Princess Fantasy DX-2
by storysmith112358
Summary: Inspired by and using the works of deviantart artist Skirtzzz, I bring to you the climactic scenes of your favorite Disney movies with one specific addition: one unique FFX2 Dressphere per Disney Princess! Combining such a big franchise with such an amazing game isn't going to be easy, but I'm gonna give it my best shot!
1. Pistols of Poison

**Princess Fantasy D X-2**

**A/N: **I have never been inspired enough to write stories about any fanart before, until I saw the work of deviantart artist Skirtzzz, specifically her Final Fantasy Disney Dressphere series. With her blessing, this will be the first of a series of final scene rewrites, using the powers of the dresspheres to possibly change the script, or failing that, make the scene worthy of a Final Fantasy series. Replicating the feel for such an incredible franchise will be a challenge, but I swear I'll do my best!

If you haven't seen any of the movies or their endings, this could be a little spoilerific, but if you have or don't mind, hang on for the ride!

**Disclaimer**: I do not own any of the characters of the Disney Princess line nor the elements of Final Fantasy X-2, those belong to Disney and SquareEnix respectively. Nor do I own the costumes featured anywhere in this story: those belong to Skirtzzz!

* * *

**Pistols of Poison**

"… and that he would carry me away to his castle… and we would live happily ever after…" Snow White breathed dreamily, holding the ruby-red apple to her breast and thinking of the life she would live once the magic apple granted her wish. As innocent as she was, the old dwarf Doc's warning had flew right out of her head.

"Fine, fine!" the "kindly" old crone whispered in anticipation. 'Now take a bite, and make your dreams come true! Don't let the wish grow cold!'

The young girl took a deep breath and bit down.

As the piece slipped down her throat, almost instantly she started to feel lightheaded, as if her body was going to sleep before her mind was. "Oh… I feel strange…" she murmured, reaching out to steady herself. When she tried to take a breath of fresh air, her body wouldn't respond. A feeling of cold crept over every inch of her, and for the first time in her life since she was left in the woods, her thoughts were nothing but fear and confusion.

As her legs gave out, she heard the crone hissing, "Her breath will still… her blood congeal…"

Her eyes fluttered closed and the apple rolled from her numb fingers, and the last thing Snow White heard before her mind gave way to oblivion were the crone's – no, the witch's – malicious cackle:

"_Now I'll be fairest in the land!_"

* * *

The twisted shape of the transformed Queen Grimhilde exited the small cottage into the pouring rain, cackling gleefully to herself. She had done it! The only one fairer than herself was no more, and once she regained her natural beauty, there would be no-one to overshadow her glory!

But all her thoughts stalled when the sound of galloping hooves reached her ears, and she gasped when said white horse galloped through the trees into the clearing in front of the cottage, that accursed handsome, brown-haired, Prince Frederick on its back. Upon seeing her, he pulled up his steed with a whinny. "No… I'm too late…" she heard him cry out.

"You!" she howled in anguish. "How did you escape my dungeon? You should've drowned!"

"Those chains of yours were so rusty they couldn't hold a child!" the prince called back over the sound of the rain and wind, his face a mix of anger and despair. "You would murder an innocent girl just to assuage your own vanity?"

"I will be the fairest of them all!" the Queen screeched. "It has been that way for 10 long years, and I will not stand for some airheaded young twit taking it away from me!"

The young man let go of the reins with one hand to grasp the hilt of his sword. "You will pay dearly for this. Do you hear me, witch? My love will be rescued!"

"_Rescued?_" snorted the Queen, before letting out a sharp laugh. "_Hah!_ Do not fool yourself, _boy_; you're too late to do anything! Snow White lies inside that cabin, her heart all but stilled! And there is nothing you can do to change that!"

Whatever the response she was expecting from Prince Frederick, be it a charge of fury or a collapse of sobbing, what she _didn't_ expect him to do was narrow his eyes in determination. "Is that what you think?" he said grimly.

"_What?_ What could you possibly –" the old hag's bulbous eyes widened when she realized something. "You… you read my spellbook, didn't you? But how could you know what spell I used?"

"Your friend here was very helpful, your Majesty,' answered the Prince, reaching to a saddlebag hanging from his horse's saddle. Opening it, he pulled out a gilt-gold frame that the Queen, to her horror, recognized instantly.

"_The Magic Mirror!_" she shrieked, as the greenish, mask-like face emerged out of the dark clouds in the glass surface. "This cannot be! You dare?! _How dare you choose to betray me?!_"

"_My owner is my master, that is my only rule,"_ the mirror answered stoically, ignoring the rain pattering on his glass face. "_To believe I am evil is to call yourself a fool. The Prince is my owner now, that much is true. And you cannot betray someone who does not own you._"

"He has told me the curse of Sleeping Death that you used on Snow White, and I found its antidote,' Prince Frederick declared, dismounting his horse, slinging the bag over his shoulder and drawing his sword. "Now stand aside peacefully, or be cut down where you stand. I will rescue Snow White, and you will not stop me." He started forward, his determined face illuminated by a sudden flash of lightning.

"_No… NO!_" the crone howled, throwing herself forward at the Prince at the crash of thunder, trying to snatch the saddlebag from him. "I will not let you awaken her! She will sleep in death forever, and I will forever remain the fairest!" A flash of steel glinted through the rain as she drew something from beneath her cloak.

Prince Frederick just managed to see the dagger in time to block it with his own weapon. A deft twist with his hand sent the weapon skittering out of the Queen's aged, gnarled hand and across the forest clearing, and a firm boot sent the crone herself splashing in a puddle.

The crone snarled like a cornered rat, staggering to her feet, but the standoff was suddenly interrupted by a chorus of yells, as a horde of woodland creatures stampeded into view, the deer carrying several short, old dwarves on their backs. Taken aback by the reinforcements, Grimhilde decided to cut her losses and hobbled off towards the forest.

The posse of critters and dwarves skidded to a halt when they saw the young man watching the crone head for the treeline. "Who in the world are you" Happy asked in confusion.

"What he's wearing – he could be a print… no, no, a prance… no, that's not right… a mince…' Doc tried to say, stumbling over his words as usual.

'A prince?' Bashful shyly suggested, before hiding his face behind the deer's neck.

'Yes!' Doc exclaimed. 'But what's a prince doing here? Does he know about Snow White?'

'I have come to rescue Snow White. The Queen captured me in her dungeon for trying to stop her, but I managed to escape and find the cure,' the Prince said quickly. 'I'll take care of her; the seven of you must not let the Queen get away!'

'How do we know we can trust you?' Grumpy growled, standing on his deer's back to get in the Prince's face. 'You just waltz in out of nowhere, saying you're a prince and that you want to save her, well, I for one don't believe – _what?_' he bellowed, turning to Dopey, who was tugging on his tunic frantically. The youngest dwarf pointed to the edge of the clearing, where the dwarves could see the Queen just disappearing through the trees.

"She's getting awa… get-getting awa… awa-a-a-_aaacchh *_gasp_*_ Thanks," Sneezy wheezed, almost letting out one of his trademark sneezes if Sleepy hadn't stifled his nose again.

Grumpy looked back and forth between the Prince and the Queen, before shouting in exasperation. "Gah! Fine! You go wake her up, we'll get her! After her, men!" he yelled, waving his cudgel in the air as his deer mount galloped after the escaping crone. Shouting and yelling, the rest of the dwarves and their woodland posse joined the charge.

* * *

Ducking his head to enter the tiny cabin, Prince Frederick's own blood ran cold when he saw the prone form of Snow White sprawled across the wooden floor, the corrupted apple just a few feet from her outstretched hand. In a heartbeat he was knelt by her head and had rested the mirror against the nearby table, where the green face could see everything.

Quickly, the Prince rummaged in the pockets of his tunic and extracted the page detailing the antidote. "_The victim of the Sleeping Death_ _can be revived only by Love's First Kiss,_" he recited quietly.

As he reached over and turned Snow White onto her back, his eyes rested on the girl's face, so quiet and pure like her name, and felt his heart melt all over again. "From the moment I saw you all those days ago, there has only been one song in my heart: the song we shared the day we first met."

Gently, he took her small, cooling hand into his own. "I have never seen another so beautiful, nor ever loved another so pure. And I swear on my name as Prince Frederick of House Hohenstaufen, I will protect that purity until the day I die." Closing his eyes, he leaned down, and softly kissed her.

The contact was sweet, demure and brief. But the second he lifted his lips from hers, the hand he held suddenly tightened and her whole body started to tremble as if in the last throes of a fever. Her innocent face wrinkled like she was having the worst nightmare imaginable, and he could feel her skin grow cold and clammy with sweat.

Mortified, he turned to the mirror. "What in God's name is happening?" he cried frantically. "Magic Mirror who knows and sees all, what ails Snow White by this ghastly pall?"

For the first time, the Magic Mirror's face almost seemed concerned. " _'Tis the Curse of the Sleeping Death that ails Snow White so, but 'tis not the only Curse that assails her soul though. When the Queen made the poisoned apple to destroy that which she hates, her very hatred formed a poison known only to the Fates._"

Prince Frederick stared back and forth from the Mirror to Snow White as it continued, "_Pandora's Lament is the name it is given, and it turns one's own body into one's eternal prison. Bonds around the soul forged from hatred so pure, to crush it to oblivion… and there is only one cure."_

"A cure?' gasped the Prince, seizing the mirror and pulling it to his face. "What is it? Tell me please! I will collect it even if I have to sail the Seven Seas!"

The face in the mirror shook from side to side grimly. "_It is not a cure from outside, but a cure that comes from within. Her soul must fight the poison herself, and only then will she win. Until her strength proves vast enough, she will remain as cold as stone._" Empty blackness seen through green eye-holes looked directly into the Prince's own. "_There is nothing you can do to help; this fight is hers alone._"

The Magic Mirror could almost see the light fade from Prince Frederick's eyes as he turned back to Snow White, who was now murmuring in disquiet. He lowered the mirror and slumped, resting his forehead against the wooden floor.

"Oh Lord Almighty," he murmured in despair, "the moment I rested my eyes on this girl, I knew she was the one I was meant to love for the rest of my life. I cannot afford to lose her now, not when I just found her all over again. Please, give the woman I love the strength to win her fight… please…"

* * *

What does death feel like? The absence of heat, sound, light or anything that resembles the world you know… where only blackness surrounds you as you wait for something, anything to bring your soul to a better place. This was all that Snow White felt as she floated in the endless void that she found herself in a second after she had taken the bite from the poisoned apple.

She wondered where she was, and how she got here. Was she having a dream? Did it really come from eating that apple? She remembered the old woman screaming something about being fairest in the land… but was she really her jealous stepmother in disguise?

It was only now that she remembered Doc's last words to her before he left with the others: to beware of strangers, for her stepmother would never stop looking for her.

"… foolish girl…" a voice that seemed to come from both nowhere and everywhere suddenly caught her attention.

"Wh…who's there?" she called out timidly.

"… ignorant girl…" the same voice spoke out, louder this time, a grating, guttural voice that seemed to be spoken by a demon, "… good-for-nothing child…"

"What do you mean?" Snow White asked, the feeling of fright reaching the same levels as when she first entered the forest, the day the hunter Humbert tried to kill her, but told her to run away instead.

"… too naive to see the danger of overshadowing the Queen… _too foolish to recognize what should've been someone else's_… _**too much beauty to be yours!**_" the voice suddenly bellowed out like a clap of thunder, and all of a sudden, agony gripped the young girl unlike she had ever experienced, as if the sound was a physical force that had struck her down. A pained scream ripped from her as her very soul was tormented, and she shut her eyes in a vain effort to block out the pain.

"…**hate you!**" the voice shrieked, somehow sounding more and more like the Queen with every moment, although Snow White could barely register it over the torment her soul was suffering. "**… despise you… **_**loathe you!**__**Useless! Insignificant! Naive child! Should've died in the forest if that waste hadn't lost his nerve!**_" With every word, pain struck her from every direction, like a horrid mother disciplining her children with sticks and chairs.

As she trembled under every word, the pain was suddenly replaced by a severe crushing feeling around her dream body, as if a giant had grabbed her and was trying to squeeze the life out of her. As she opened her eyes, all she could see was the horrid, fury-ridden face of her wicked stepmother, enlarged by a hundred times, as fingers the size of trees held her to her face.

"_**Scream!**_" screeched Queen Grimhilde, her giant hand tightening, sending another surge of pain through the girl's battered soul. "_**I want to feel your despair! I want to see your tears! I want you to know what you have that should have been mine from the start: **__**the beauty that you hold that should never have existed to overshadow my own!**_"

"No… no…" sobbed Snow White, her very essence too ravaged and weakened to scream or cry, "Why? Why do you hate me so? Is everything you have done because of how I look?"

"_**It has ALWAYS been!**_" the Queen snarled, her eyes dripping contempt, her teeth bared, the very embodiment of her hatred trying to snuff out that which was better. "_**You, your looks, your heart, your innocence – YOUR BEAUTY! I am the fairest in the land, in every way, and it will remain that way once you DIE!**_"

A second hand rose out of the darkness to clasp around the first, and a final wail of despair rung through the blackness, as the 14-year-old girl was literally strangled by hate and odium from her stepmother. Her eyes fluttered shut in a last, desperate to dream it all away…

A sudden deafening crack rang through the void as the maiden's pure heart finally cracked.

* * *

Some say the heart of a child, one that is pure and innocent, fragile and devoid of the sins that plague the world around us is the most precious treasure ever known, worth more than all the gold or gems buried under the soil and stone of the earth. To care and nurture for one is said to be the greatest responsibility of any one or two people ever, and to destroy or corrupt one is undeniably one of the worst sins one can ever do.

But the strength and purity of one of these truly innocent hearts, when exposed to those who wish it harm, is all too often sorely underestimated in its potential. The raw untainted emotion emanating from one is incredibly resilient to attempts to taint it, and evil in its pure form cannot hope to succeed against such purity. Such as it was written by the Creator.

Sadly, the power of the heart to resist the sins of the world can only be shone through the eyes of the innocent, which is often insufficient to hold off the taint for long. The sins corrupt the heart through the emotions experienced, leaving it unable to bring its full potential to resist the taint except in very rare cases.

But now, with the embodiment of the Queen's rage and hate pushing against such an innocent and beautiful soul at its very core, it was fully exposed to every iota of purity and light held by Snow White's heart upon its release.

The instant what defenses Snow White's heart possessed fell, a radiant light bloomed out from her soul, that banished the darkness to the far reaches of limbo. The embodiment of the Queen howled in sheer agony as her hatred literally disintegrated like shattering glass at the touch of the light, leaving a glowing silhouette floating before the Queen's disbelieving, handless, giant form.

The remnants of the Sleeping Death, almost fully cleansed by the first, brief release of love and beauty, witnessed the corona of beauty and light… and all it could feel was utter remorse for even trying to take this girl's soul before her time; such a heart being too beautiful to even attempt destroying. All at once, it swore to amend its mistakes by helping to drive off the other taint that came along with it, that which would choose to try and extinguish the heart.

Like a wisp of green smoke, the poison snaked its way into the the center of the corona, and felt its pure energies empower it and start to change its form. It wound its way around the girl's glowing body like a long green scarf, melding its strength with that of the light, as both merged to form the defenses against the hate and contempt.

Garments were brought into existence to both defend her from the enemies that she faced, while at the same time representing both the innocence of her heart and the strength of the poison that her love had conquered. Patterning itself against the outfit she wore, the dress and all its adornments burst into color one piece at a time, from a collar-like choker, a bright blue bodice and toeless stockings adorned with lace, red shoes, knicker-like shorts, a flowing yellow half-skirt, red and blue bands around her biceps, and a brown belt with an attached pouch. Satisfied with the creation, the poison split the remainder of itself in front of her and let the strings of Fate take over, as they shaped it into a pair of objects only recognized by an old English wizard that had managed to see the future.

The embodiment of hate struggled against the light like someone fighting the pull of the ocean's tide, trying in vain to smother or corrupt it, but every beam of light that touched was like molten lava, burning away at the form bit by bit. Every moment that passed by, the sheer purity of the girl's heart was wearing away at the poison of Pandora's Lament.

Suddenly the light started to die down, and the half-disintegrated entity took its chance, surging forward like a vengeful fury. But the next moment, a bang like a cannon echoed across the void and the Queen's entity of malice froze in its tracks, its shoulder fracturing like china and beginning to fall apart.

Floating before her in the void was the girl that filled her with so much revulsion, now dressed in an outfit that exposed more skin than should ever be decent. Said skin was glowing like the sun, and clutched in her hands were two odd devices that looked to be crafted out of wood and gold into two L-shapes. Both of them had holes in one end, and the device in her left hand was aimed straight at the embodiment's shoulder, a wisp of smoke trailing from the hole.

Snow White, still wearing that innocent-looking red bow, gazed into the giant face of her cruel stepmother. The entity gazed right back with nothing but disgust. The girl's expression was filled with regret as she raised the right device – pistols, she somehow knew what they were called – to aim right between the Queen's eyes.

"I'm sorry, stepmother," she whispered quietly, "but I need you to go now. _Burst Shot._" The last two words whispered so quietly no one could hear them, she squeezed the trigger and a second bang roared out, the pistol spitting out a shaped piece of metal that tore through the entity's head, leaving a perfect round hole in her forehead and cracks spider-webbing across her face. The next second, the sound of breaking glass was heard as the evil Queen shattered into a million pieces of glass that vanished into the void.

Snow White closed her eyes and pulled the pistols close to herself, as her soul, freed from both the Curse of Sleeping Death and Pandora's Lament, began to return to her mortal plane. As her form started to vanish from the blackness, she missed the light from her heart taking something from her to repair its defenses – six whole years of her life.

* * *

Prince Frederick had only bowed his head for what seemed like a few moments when Snow White's body suddenly froze and went as still as a board. The Prince looked up in shock and alarm, in time to see her ivory skin suddenly light up like the morning sun.

Frederick gave a shout of surprise as he stumbled backwards, falling onto his rear and watching the glowing maiden rise into the air into a standing position. Beams of light shone down from out of nowhere to whirl around her body, and as they passed over her dress and outfit, they started to change.

Her high collar curled around her neck to resemble a white choker, while her blue bodice shrank to resemble a high-cut, lace-edged corset, fastened under her arms and curving upwards to form an upside-down V around her navel, exposing it. Her blue and red puffy sleeves now became similarly-colored wraps around her upper arms, and small golden bangles appeared around her wrists. A thick brown belt with a small sack attached latched itself around her hips, as half of her flowing yellow skirt vanished, leaving her with a half-skirt covering her left leg, but keeping her right leg exposed, and also exposing ruffly bloomer-like shorts, revealing more leg than any decent woman should in that day and age. Lastly, knee-high blue stockings in the same shade as her bodice, also topped with lace, and a pair of scarlet high heels, in the same shade as her lips and hair bow, materialized around her legs.

Prince Frederick was so stunned that all he could do was stare as the girl floated back down to her knees, and the glow around her finally dimmed. But he was further taken aback at the new sight of what was once a 14-year-old girl, now a young woman a year or so younger than his own 20 years of age, still with inky-black curled hair and a little red bow. As the last remnants of light faded away, a final pair of sparks bloomed in her hands before coalescing into a pair of wood-and-metal contraptions, with small shaped apples resting on their tops.

As Snow White's eyes fluttered open, her eyes fell on the handsome face of the astonished Prince sitting on the floor gazing up at her, and she instantly gasped, dropping the pair of devices in the process. "Oh! You're the Prince I met all those years ago! How did you get here? Are you alright?" In a second, she was kneeling at his side.

"I… I…" Frederick, for his part, managed to regain his sense of etiquette a second later. Instantly moving to a bow, he declared, "Prince Frederick of House Hohenstaufen, at your humble service, Princess Snow White." He looked up into the face of the woman, much older than a few moments ago, but still as demure and innocent as ever. "I found the cure for the poison, and gave it to you in time. I am so happy you were strong enough to overcome your stepmother's hatred!"

"As am I, and I thank you greatly for your help." Snow White smiled and bent down to curtsey in response, when her eyes fell on her new outfit for the first time. "Dear me! Where have my clothes gone? These are the same clothes as in my dream!"

"I do not know," Prince Frederick said, studiously keeping his eyes on her face and not anywhere else, but a sudden crack of thunder quickly reminded him of the situation. "Oh! I almost forgot! Those little men outside, are they friends of yours? They seemed to know you."

"The dwarves? Where are they now? Are they alright in this storm?" she asked, looking outside where the rain was coming down in buckets.

"They were chasing after your stepmother, last I saw of them. For what she has done to the both of us, we cannot let her escape!"

"My stepmother? Oh dear!" Snow White gasped. Quickly, she stood and picked up the two devices, hooking them into her new belt. "We must rescue them; who knows what her magic could do to them!"

"Then let us be off! We shall share our stories later," declared Prince Frederick, getting up too. He turned to the Magic Mirror still leaning against the table. "Magic Mirror, we thank you for your aid, but your shine could be damaged if you go into this cascade. For the time being, we shall leave you here where it is dry. We swear to return for you when the end to this is nigh!"

The mask nodded. "_Young Prince Frederick, I shall hold you to your word. To return soon rather than late is very much preferred!_" With that, the face vanished in a quick flicker of flame.

The Prince and Snow White emerged from the cabin where a small group of woodland creatures had stayed behind to keep an eye on the cottage. When they saw their maiden, they started jumping and chattering in joy, and even the rain seemed a little less oppressive.

"No time to waste; we need to aid the dwarves!" Prince Frederick declared, gathering the pleasantly-surprised Snow White into his arms and hoisting her into his horse's saddle, before leaping on himself. "If you can understand me, please show me the way!"

One of the deer reared up as if volunteering, before bounding off into the woods towards the cliffs. With a crack of the reins, the Prince's white steed whinnied and galloped off after it.

Hidden in the trees, a pair of griffon vultures took off into the rain.

* * *

Huffing and puffing, the seven dwarves scrambled up the cliff face in the pouring rain, waving wooden cudgels in the air, pursuing the gnarled, hobbled old crone known to be the evil Queen. In her haste to escape the vengeful dwarves, she had started climbing the rocky ledges of the nearby mountain.

"Come on, men!" yelled Grumpy. "We know where this path leads! Once she reaches the top of that cliff, there's no way down except through us!" The other six gave a yell (except for Dopey), and they redoubled their efforts to catch up. As they charged after their quarry, Doc couldn't help but notice that the rain seemed to be letting up somewhat, and the thunder wasn't as deafening as before. He quickly brushed the thought away, though, seeing the shadow of the Queen on the top of the cliff, having finally reached the dead-end.

As the dead-end cliff finally came into view through the downpour, Grumpy gasped when he saw the crone struggling with a wooden branch, and she was using it to try and lever a gigantic boulder off the cliff back the way she came, which would crush them all!

"Look out!" he yelled, as the group huddled beneath a small rock outcropping, offering a scant shelter from the impending avalanche. They could hear the old hag cackling madly over the howling wind, while the seven dwarves braced themselves for the impact of tumbling rocks.

A pair of muffled bangs suddenly sounded from lower on the cliff, before two streaks of light suddenly rocketed upwards in front of the dwarves' astonished eyes. The next second, a third, much closer, explosion rocked the cliffside, the hag's laughter turned to howls of pain and surprise, and a layer of gravel and loose scree poured down on the group, half-burying them in rubble.

When the greatly-reduced avalanche finally died, the dwarves dug themselves out and looked up to find the deluge reduced to nothing more than an ordinary spring shower, and the sun just starting to break through the clouds. Looking up, the boulder the crone was trying to drop on them was nothing more than a pile of shattered rubble, and the Queen was picking herself up from beside it where she had fallen down from the explosion, somehow not blown off of the cliff-face.

"Stepmother!" suddenly came a shout from down the cliff, and the dwarves turned towards it, to see the Prince they saw earlier balanced on the rocks, and slightly higher up… was Snow White, aiming two metal-and-wood devices up at the witch, completely unperturbed by the rain.

"Snow White!" laughed Happy, jumping up and down in joy. "She's alive! The Prince did it! She…" His voice stuttered to a halt when she saw exactly what she was wearing. "Good grief!" He spun around and determinedly faced up the cliff at the crone.

All the dwarves turned crimson when they laid eyes on Snow White, and equally determinedly averted their eyes. Bashful in particular only looked at Snow White for one second before his face went purple and he fainted on the spot, and Dopey took so long to realize what he was staring at that Doc had to bodily turn his head the other way.

When the Queen laid eyes on her stepdaughter, her eyes almost popped out of her head in disbelief. "NO!" she shrieked. "You can't be alive! Curse you, you annoying Prince!"

"There is nowhere to run, 'Your Majesty'," Prince Frederick said, the last words obviously condescending. "Either you come down and be imprisoned until the end of your life, or I come up there and cut your head off." He exposed a few inches of steel to accent his point.

"I should've just cut your throat out when I had the chance!" the crone wailed. "Then Snow White would finally be dead and I'd be the most beautiful around!"

"Why you…" Grumpy growled, "One more word out of you and I'll come up there and push you off myself!"

"Enough, everyone," Snow White's voice interceded between everyone. "No one is killing anyone today." She stepped closer, aiming both pistols at her, although her expression showed nothing but regret. "No-one has to be hurt, stepmother. All you have to do is come down peacefully."

"Not in a million years, _child!_" Queen Grimhilde hissed venomously. "When I get down from here, I will not rest until you lie dead! Strangled with a corset! Poisoned with a cursed comb!" Despite her defiance, she couldn't for the life for her find a way off the ledge that allowed her to escape.

"I see…" Snow White whispered, her voice sounding even more mournful. "Then I guess I do not have a choice." Both pistols centered on the Queen's crooked form.

"What are those?" she hissed.

"They are my Poison Pistols, made from the very poison you used on me," the maiden said quietly, summoning up more of the knowledge she didn't quite know about. "They pack quite a _bite_, as you no doubt saw." She gestured to the pile of pebbles that was once a giant boulder. "Gained from conquering all the hate you put into the creation of your curse."

For just a moment, the innocent, mournful voice of the Princess took on a coldness as befitting her name. "And a curse is what I now put on you." Cocking both apple-shaped hammers with a click, she murmured four words unheard to everyone except the Prince.

"_Target MP. Cursed Bullet._"

The twin pistols went off with twin bangs, sending twin bullets arcing up the cliff and right through the crone's shoulders before she could react. Although there wasn't a spray of blood, the Queen gave a howl of anguish and collapsed to the stone ground.

"My… my magic," she moaned, touching her face and heart in disbelief, "I can't feel my magic… _what did you do to me?!_" she screeched down at her.

"My Poison Pistols allow me to send curses or poisons of my choice to whatever I shoot, as a reminder of how they came to be," Snow White said, her voice still possessing that minute icy timbre, "and the curse I have put on you has permanently sealed you off from your magic… including that which could've turned you back to normal."

All the colour drained from the crone's wrinkled face at the last part as she clutched at her chest and her face. "No… no… you can't… all my beauty…"

"I will not kill you, stepmother, but you have left me no choice," Snow White declared, her next words possessing no ice, only sorrow. "Now you cannot hurt anyone else, and you can't do anything to hurt me any more. So please, _please_, stepmother, just leave us alone."

Quietly, she slipped her pistols back into her belt and turned down. "Come, everyone, let's go home." The Prince smiled, and kissed her on the cheek as he took her hand to help her down the mountain, offering what support he could. The dwarves looked at each other, before silently following the couple down the mountain. Even Dopey managed to not pull any of his clumsy antics.

The Queen watched the procession head down the mountain, her mind numb with a mix of disbelief, rage and horror, before letting out an anguish-filled scream that echoed across the mountain. "_NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!_"

As she ranted and raved, cursing Snow White's name to the deepest points of hell, she hobbled upright and shook her fists at the sky. Snatching the broken branch from the ground, she swung it violently, as if trying to beat magic out of the air for her to use, only to make a grave error.

She was moving across a small rock outcropping that was covered in recent rainfall, and her foot just slipped.

A moment later, the griffon vultures started to descend.

* * *

"Are you sure you have to leave?" asked Sneezy, watching the pair slip the Magic Mirror into the saddlebags that again hung off Frederick's white horse. Snow White had found that by flipping a switch on the pistols and dropping them, it made them and her new, elegant (albeit rather chilly) outfit vanish into a small card she now carried with her, her old outfit having been restored.

"I have found my prince after all these dreams," Snow White said, gazing lovingly at her Prince. "My heart tells me to go with him, now that I am safe from the Queen's evil at last."

"Well, if that's your choice, my dear, none of us will stop you,' Doc declared, not tripping over his words for once. "We all want what's best for you."

"J…just, please don't forget us, okay?" Bashful stammered.

Snow White smiled, a smile that put everyone that saw it completely at ease. "Of course I won't, Bashful! I could never forget any of you! Don't worry, if I have the chance I will come visit!"

"I too will never forget you seven brave men," declared Frederick, bowing to the dwarves. "I am forever in your debt for keeping my love safe, and I swear on my name I will repay it one day!"

"Just keep 'er safe and I won't have a reas'n to find yer, got it?" Grumpy sniffed.

"If I can't, the only reason will be my own death," Prince Frederick declared, turning to Snow White. "Shall we, milady?"

"Just seven more things to do," Snow White said with that glorious smile, walking up to each dwarf in turn and giving them a kiss on the forehead. Dopey tried to get a kiss on the lips instead, but was satisfied with his own forehead kiss in the end.

"Farewell, everyone! Farewell!" Finally, cries and goodbyes echoed back and forth between the two parties as the Prince and Princess departed from the cottage towards their new future, an accompaniment of forest animals following close behind.

* * *

Welp, for a first installment, I hope it passes muster. I might go through it again a few times if I feel it needs perking up.

Skirtzzz, thank you so much for waiting! I hope this story is good enough to fit your picture, and I hope the rest will be as good!

To those that start yelling about how the Magic Mirror isn't that size in the movies, consider it the one small change in canon I'm entitled to as a writer.

Find Snow White's gunner costume, created by the talented DeviantArtist Skirtzzz here (scrap all the spaces)!:  
** skirtzzz . deviantart dot com / Gunner - Snow - White - 191714706**

Review and Critique please; more support will inspire me to work faster, and I'd really like the feedback! But please, no flaming!

**Next Chapter: The Redhaired Ronin**


	2. The Redhaired Ronin

**Princess Fantasy D X-2**

**A/N: **I have never been inspired enough to write stories about any fanart before, until I saw the work of deviantart artist Skirtzzz, specifically her Final Fantasy Disney Dressphere series. With her blessing, this will be the first of a series of final scene rewrites, using the powers of the dresspheres to possibly change the script, or failing that, make the scene worthy of a Final Fantasy series. Replicating the feel for such an incredible franchise will be a challenge, but I swear I'll do my best!

If you haven't seen any of the movies or their endings, this could be a little spoilerific, but if you have or don't mind, hang on for the ride!

**Disclaimer**: See Chapter 1.

* * *

**The Redhaired Ronin**

Hooves pounded the ground as the massive Shire stallion Angus raced through the Scottish woods, pursuing the shouts and yells only distantly audible several leagues away. He snorted; his little mistress had done many crazy things over the time that he'd known her, but this had to be the craziest ever by far.

"Steady, Angus!" Merida cried from the stallion's back, somehow managing to stay on his back and lace up a tear in a tapestry that she somehow managed to keep from flying away, all at the same time. "Hubert, Harris, help Hamish!"

The horse grunted as two sets of bear cub paws scrambled all over him, tugging too lightly for his liking as they tried to keep him on course and keep the light steady for their untransformed sister to sew. Those three rascals were the bane of him and his friends back in the DunBroch stables; the day they became old enough to actually learn how to ride would be a dark day for all of them.

He tossed his head in agitation. This was not a time to dwell on that. His mistress's needed him to save her mother, and it was his duty as her friend and steed to do it.

He heard Merida give a yelp of triumph and felt the tapestry rustle on his back, probably meaning it was finished. But his attention was suddenly diverted by a bright light appearing out of nowhere in front of him, causing him to rear up in surprise.

Merida looked at the will-o'-the-wisp, waiting for more to appear to show her where to go as it had done before. But when six more did appear, they curved around Angus to either side. Confused, Merida turned around to find that three more had appeared behind her, the 10 wisps completely surrounding her in a circle.

"What the devil?" she murmured, looking back and forth. "Where do they want me to go?"

It was at that point that a low – and familiar – cackle reached her ears, and she turned around abruptly to find the stooped old witch that had started this whole mess walk out of a small copse of trees, her ever-present raven sitting on her head and three more floating balls of blue fire hovering around her feet. "Well, well, child, fancy meeting you here," she chuckled.

Merida was flabbergasted. "Y-you? What are you doing here? You said you'd be gone till spring!"

"The old druid and his rusty silverware were getting on my nerves, so I packed up early," snorted the old woman disdainfully. "So full of himself, him and his medicines…"Abruptly, her grumbling turned into her regular gummy smile. "The Wicker Man's Festival was truly fantastic; you really should've come along, got so many nice things… saw the old pig again… oh, the memories…"

"Yep, old lard-butt hadn't changed a bit!" squawked the scruffy black bird, taking a snap at the wisps, which hovered just out of reach. "Why you slept with him I have no idea-" His rambling was abruptly shut off by the witch snatching him off her head by his throat.

Strained beyond all belief at the past few days, upon hearing the old crone and her eccentric rambling, Merida's Scottish rage completely boiled over. "_You dare show your face to me after what you did to my family?!_" she screamed, snatching for her bow. An arrow whizzed by the witch's face, cutting her off mid-sentence.

"Well now, what was that for?" she asked indignantly.

"You gave me that cake knowing what it did!" the princess shouted, leaping off her horse, another arrow notched to her bow. "You stood there, doing all that wishy-washy magic stuff, and handed that cake to me without even telling me what it would do!" She released the string, sending the projectile spinning right for the raven, which his owner managed to pull out of the way in time.

"Well, I thought you knew what you wanted!" she snapped, halting the next arrow with a snap of her fingers. "You told me you wanted your ma changed. Wasn't my fault you didn't say exactly what needed changing!"

"_Not your fault?_" yelled Merida back. "My mum's a bear, and my da' wants her head on our wall, and likely my brothers once he sees them!" She pointed to the three cubs now huddling in fear on Angus's back. "My family's being torn apart, and I'm doing all I can to save it, and now you and your torchlights are in my way! _I'd say that bloody __**does**__ make it your fault, just like it was with Mor'du!_"

The wisps all seemed to bristle at that insinuation. The witch blinked, before she frowned, her gold eyes suddenly gaining something all the more sharper. "Watch your tongue, young lady. As I recall, _you're _the one who asked for the spell, and so did he." Three more clicks knocked down three more arrows.

"And aren't _you_ the one to keep using that stupid bear spell?" Merida countered, her red hair making her look like she was literally burning in fury. "You knew exactly what that spell would do, you old hag! My family wouldn't be hunting each other down if not for it, and Mor'du never would've destroyed his family if his bear instincts didn't take him over! You changed our fates, you ruined our families, and you're destroying our kingdom! _Of course __**it's your fault!**_" One more arrow was loosed, this time directly at the witch's face.

"I said… _WATCH YOUR TONGUE!_" the witch suddenly screeched out, her voice suddenly echoing with the cries of crows and ravens. She snapped her fingers so hard it seemed like they broke, and Merida's weapons flew out of her hands to land in the grass, as she herself fell on her rear. At the same time, her hunched, elderly form exploded in a dark flurry of black feathers, as the cawing grew louder and more cacophonic. The triplets gave a squeal/cry as they buried their faces into Angus's fur, the horse rearing up in terror and trying desperately to hold his ground.

All of Merida's anger changed instantly into fear as the feathers blew away, revealing a figure who bore no resemblance to the old lady standing there a moment ago. A tall, regal, incredibly dangerous-looking lady now stood before her, with flowing hair as black as crow's wings and a feather-like cloak to match. A black and red dress with a silver-accented corset outlined a voluptous but wiry female figure, and peering out from behind a silver-steel wire facemask in the form of a crow's beak, were two baleful golden eyes glaring straight at her. "You dare to speak to me that way? _You go too far, child!_"

"The Mor… the – the Morri…" Merida stuttered, completely lost for words.

The figure took one stalking step towards her, the glint of steel appearing from under her cloak, when suddenly she halted and her eyes widened in some sort of realization. "NO! He was right! I don't believe it!"

Merida blinked, a small part of her fear turning to confusion. "I'm sorry? What?"

"That stupid pig bet me a week of companionship with him if I lost my temper during the rest of my holiday, and I couldn't even last a day, much less a decade!" the woman griped, whirling around in frustration. "When I get my hands on the Dagda…"

Merida's eyes instantly widened again as the reality hit her. "Then… you really are…"

"Aye, the Morrigan," the now-confirmed-to-be goddess answered, as her agitation ebbed. "The Phantom Queen, the Washer at the Ford, whatever you wish to call me. But you should be more concerned now with admitting you were wrong now, shouldn't you?"

"I… I…" Merida started backing up as the Morrigan began advancing again.

"Normally you'd be food for my crows right about now for your comments," the Morrigan said grimly, as her ever-present raven landed on an outstretched finger, "but I've been in a good mood lately, and franky… you intrigue me, Princess."

"I… I do?" Merida asked, unconscioulsy making sure she was between the goddess and her three brothers at all times.

"Trying to change your own destiny by your own whims? I understand that quite well," the Goddess said, lightly stroking her pet with her free hand. "Corvids are free spirits. Never liked to be chained down to anything, and if they happen to be pets, they do so by their own will. " With a flourish, she cast the raven into the air, where it flapped into the air and out of sight. "But even so, they still know their place in this world, and their responsibilities to keep the world stable. Mischief is one thing; outright destruction is another. The oldest prince learned that the hard way, when his choice to change his fate ended in disaster, despite my misgivings."

"Mor'du?" said Merida in astonishment. "But I thought you wanted him to go mad…"

"The fact that he did and his later fate is only one half of the tale," the Morrigan explained. "The other half is what happened when he came to see me. After the prince fell out with his brothers and entered into war with them, the kingdom was held at a stalemate for several years. Hoping to break the stalemate, the prince traveled to the ring of stones, before the wisps guided him to me in the guise of the woodcarver. I saw his potential to create a better future, and agreed to his wish for the strength of 10 men, but I advised him to rethink his choice, for it would lead to a stronger kingdom that would last for many more generations."

"Well, that obviously didn't work out as planned," muttered Merida, her earlier fear starting to ebb away.

"The spell I gave him was in the form of a drinking horn. If the prince had followed my advice, he would've shared the spell amongst his brothers, blessing them all with the same strength while keeping their minds whole, thus healing the bonds between them and bringing their kingdoms together again." The Morrigan tightened her hand into a fist. "But he instead consumed the spell whole and lost his body in the bear you know as Mor'du. Still set on his goal as the sole ruler, he slew his brothers, and with them, any chance he had of mending their bonds."

"And," the Morrigan's eyes glimmered in the light of the shifting will-o'-de-wisps, "with the bonds destroyed by his own hands, he lost any chance he had of regaining his humanity. And the rest, as they say, is history."

The Princess was silent as she absorbed the story. Slowly, she turned and pulled the tapestry with the mended seam off her horse's back, to look at it mournfully. "So… it wasn't about the tapestry at all? To repair my family, I will have to repair the bond with my mum… that I tore with my pride and selfishness?" She reached up to stroke one of the triplets' heads where they were looking down at her quietly.

The dark goddess nodded. "And you'll have to do it before sunrise, lest what happened to Mor'du, happens to your mother."

Merida gasped. "Then why are you keeping me here telling stories?! I have to go save her!" In a moment she had retrieved her bow, jumped back on Angus and prepared to ride off, but one hand on his muzzle made the horse freeze in his tracks.

"I wasn't _quite_ finished," the Phantom Queen interjected, as the three wisps who had been floating around her patiently moved closer. "See, there's something else I need your help with, and it's about Mor'du himself. After all these centuries, his soul needs to return to Tír na Marbh for there to be balance and for him to finally have peace… and as a seer, I have seen that I am not the one to defeat him."

"…then… you want me to… how am I supposed to defeat a bear like Mor'du?" sputtered Merida as she grasped what the goddess wanted. "Arrows aren't going to work!"

"Which is exactly why these three are here," said the Morrigan, gesturing to the three wisps. "These three spirits have decided to bind themselves to your service until your days have ended. They shall give you the strength to slay the beast, channeled through this." Reaching beneath her cloak, she withdrew something that shouldn't have fit underneath it. To Merida, it looked like a sword, but it was more than half as tall as she was and had a strange curved shape.

"What is that?"

"Just something I picked up at the fair. I believe it will serve you well." The Morrigan was about to explain further, when her raven suddenly flew back into the clearing.

"Mistress, the murder did all they could, but the men have chased them off. They can't delay them any further, and they'll catch up with the woman in a few moments," croaked the raven worriedly.

The goddess frowned. "You can't spare any more time. You need to go rescue your mother." In one smooth motion, she tossed the blade at Merida. As it arced through the air, the three wisps flickered briefly, before shooting into the sword's blade like small shooting stars. As soon as Merida caught the sword by the handle, energy flooded through her small body and her clothes lit up as the remaining will-o'-de-wisps rose from around Angus to spin around the Princess at a dizzying speed.

When the excitement finally ended, the balls of blue flame split off and arranged themselves into a path leading off into the distance. "Follow the wisps to reach your destiny," said the Morrigan. "I wish you good luck."

"Thank you so much, my lady," Merida nodded, not thinking too much yet about what had happened to her, before snapping Angus's reins. With her brothers still staring in astonishment at her, the Princess galloped off into the woods along the path lit up by blue fire, intent on saving two families from their destinies.

The goddess watched her go, before resuming her older, hunched form, and tottered off, wondering if she should've told the girl about the potential future that would've happened if she had lost her temper enough to leave mortal wounds: a father slaying his family in his confusion and grief, a country weakened from internal strife, and overseas invaders that would eventually tear the land apart…

Hidden amongst the trees, a scarred face watched the mass of red hair ride away into the distance. His prey had gotten away once, and that was one time too many…

* * *

King Fergus leapt off his steed to observe the trussed up bear lying on the ground in front of him, as the ropes held by the members of the reunited four clans held it firmly down. Face contorted in a vengeful snarl, he drew his sword, intent on only one thing: vengeance for his slain wife.

When he stopped in front of the bear, sword raised above his head, he saw his victim looking up at him with what was undoubtably fear and pleading and… humanity?... in its eyes, and for a split-second, he almost felt he should spare it. But the feeling was lost in his rage; if this bear was to expect mercy from him, for what it did to his family, it wouldn't receive a drop of mercy. His muscles tightening, he brought the blade down with a yell of vengeance…

… only for it to turn into a yell of pain as an arrow grazed his hand and struck his blade, knocking it to one side and ruining his attack. Suffused with indignation, he spun around, intending to confront the blithering sod who interrupted him – and his jaw dropped three feet.

Leaping from her horse and glaring him right in the face was his own daughter, bow drawn and an arrow aimed straight at him. But what had him gawking and the crowd gasping was exactly what she was wearing now. Her mass of fiery-red hair was now tied back with something halfway between a helmet and a circlet, forged out of bronze and leather. Over a tight-fitting reddish tunic, she wore a turquoise shoulder cape edged with Gaelic embroidery, with what appeared to be metal-plated leather armor hidden under it, fastened with a sash and a belt. Connected to the armor were long, loose beige silk sleeves, and connected to the belt was a two-tiered back-covering skirt, made of dawn-covered silk and rougher travelling cotton. Hidden under the skirt, she wore a pair of sturdy, thigh-length, black travelling breeches hemmed with white, and completed the ensemble with knee-length red leather boots with open toes, revealing white cotton socks.

"Get back!" she barked, interposing herself between her father and the bear, which also looked completely taken aback by her new clothing. "That's my mother!"

Now Fergus was completely baffled. "Are you out of your mind, lass? And where on earth did you get that getup?"

Merida seemed less concerned about him though, and instead focused on the bear. "Mum, are you hurt?" The bear gave a groan in response, halfway between forlorn and perplexed.

Fergus didn't know what his daughter was doing calling the bear her mother, but he was not going to stand for it tainting Elinor's memory. He would have to deal with his daughter and her madness later. With one arm, he shoved her out of the way into Lord Macintosh, who helpfully secured her with his spear, while he raised his sword once again over the beast's head.

But whatever Merida had gotten in her head, she wasn't about to let it go. Deftly, she grabbed hold of the spear, threw her weight forward and flung the war-painted Lord clear over her head and onto his back. In the blink of an eye she was moving forward and drawing something secured on her back and hidden beneath her hair. Fergus only saw a flash of light before his daughter was once again in front of him, blocking his sword with a blade he'd never seen before. It was oddly curved, a foot longer than his, forged out an odd, glowing turquoise metal, and engraved with black Gaelic lettering.

"Merida!" he exclaimed in disbelief. With her father taken off guard, Merida retaliated, wielding the enormous blade like a toy. In two smooth movements, she had utterly disarmed him and sliced clean through his wooden leg, sending him toppling embarrassingly to the ground.

While the king was still blinking at being bested by his own daughter, Merida stood over her with a vengeful look on her face. "I'll not let you kill my mother!"

Before Fergus could make sense of what his daughter was saying, he was suddenly mobbed by three furry black shapes, snuffling and sniffing all over him. He yelled, trying to shoo them off.

"Boys!" Merida snapped, in the tone she only used… when ordering around the triplets. The three identical bear cubs glanced back at her and scrambled off. Fergus looked between them, her daughter, and the bear, before his mind finally caught up with what she had been saying and made the connection.

"_Boys?_" he sputtered, looking at the three now-all-too-familiar cubs.

* * *

Merida finally relaxed when her father finally seemed to realize what was going on, but the moment shattered when a footstep echoed through the clearing like thunder. Her eyes locked with a pair of glowing red eyes from outside the circle, and her knuckles whitened when the familiar, terrifying shape of the demon bear Mor'du emerged from the darkness. Its bellow sent a chill through every warrior's blood.

"Mor'du!" she gasped. Beneath her fingers, the saber seemed to shudder.

"_Kill it!_" barked Fergus, the sight of his rival igniting his blood once again. With a combined yell, the warriors of the four tribes charged for the behemoth, weapons drawn. But for all their tenacity and skill, they were no match for the beast, who cast each wave aside like raindrops. The tribes' best warriors were thrown into the stone pillars or sent sprawling across the grass.

Fergus leapt to his feet and laid a meaty punch right in the bear's muzzle. "Come on!" he bellowed. "I'll take you with my _bare_ _hands_!" Weaponless and missing two inches off his wooden leg, he leapt at Mor'du. The transformed prince didn't even blink. With one paw, he swatted the Lord into the dirt, before taking his limb into his jaws and hurling him clear across the circle.

As Merida watched the carnage, she suddenly felt her blade heat up in her hand, and she instinctively slashed at the air, barking out the words that instantly came to her head, "_Sparkler!_". On cue, one of the wisps flew out of her blade and shot towards Mor'du where it exploded into a mass of blue fire. Mor'du roared in agony as the wisp flew back out of the inferno and disappeared back into the sword.

"Great Gods…" she whispered, staring at the blade in amazement.

Unfortunately for her, despite being scorched, the beast was far from brought down. With another ferocious roar, he charged for the princess. As he raised his paw, Merida brought her sword forward with a yell.

Enchanted steel met enchanted flesh like hammer and anvil. In the hands of its only user, the massive saber, Three Kings, weighed less than a brush, but to anyone else, it might as well have been a 1-ton warhammer. Blood gushed as the blade bit deep into the bear's paw, deflecting it.

But although thrown off balance, Mor'du still had another paw. It swept through the air and backhanded the Princess, knocking her backwards across the grass. Although her chestplate absorbed the worst of the blow, the impact with the ground drove all the breath from her lungs, although she somehow managed to retain the hold on her weapon.

She barely had time to take a breath before the rabid monster was upon her. Desperately, she interposed her sword between the beast and her, using every ounce of strength to hold off the bear as its slavering jaws gnashed an inch from her face. Fear and strain warred on Merida's face, and she screamed from the exertion of keeping her throat from being ripped out.

But just when she thought her arms were going to give out, a series of roars, men's yells and snapping ropes reached her ears, and a second black shape slammed into Mor'du, knocking it off her. The Princess clambered to her feet to see, to her horror, the black bear that was her mother now free from her bonds and facing off against Mor'du!

Catching sight of his prey, Mor'du snarled and loped towards her, but the Queen interposed herself between them and roared her own challenge. With a snarl of confirmation, the two mountains of muscle and fur went at each other, swiping and snapping with claw and tooth, bellowing with every blow.

However, from the very get-go, it was clear that Elinor's tenacity and drive was outmatched by Mor'du's size, strength and experience in his bear form. With a brutal paw to the face that left Merida crying out in fear, the smaller bear was hurled into one of the stone menhirs making up the circle, as the larger beast bore down on her.

"_Get away from her!_" shrieked Merida, raising her blade once again. "_Fireworks!_" The blade shimmered with blue flame once again, and when she swung it, all three wisps shot out through the air to detonate violently against the bear's back, stunning it enough for Elinor to shove him off with a roar.

Fergus, for his part, was utterly flummoxed by the chain of events, but with his daughter's life at stake and the other bear protecting her, there was one thing he was certain of. "Archers! Spearmen! I don't care what it takes; bring that monster down! But watch your aim!"

A second later, a shower of steel-tipped wood came down upon the beast from every able-bodied man holding a bow or a spear, but all it did was infuriate him and add on to the already-impressive collection of weapons lodged in his back. While he was shaking off the barrage, the smaller bear charged in again to smash him hard in the face, and Merida delivered a vicious cut to his rear leg with a mighty swipe.

The enchanted steel slashed right through the beast's hamstring, causing its left leg to buckle. But even lame, Mor'du's ferocity would not be stemmed, and it sezied Elinor with his jaws and hurled her clear across the ring to crash into another stone menhir, causing it to crack. Now unhindered, the behemoth once again turned his full attention on his prey, stalking towards her to finish the job he started in the ruins.

It was a mixture of seeing the beast finally lamed and seeing his daughter in danger again that spurred Fergus into action again. Grabbing a discarded sword off the ground and cursing his damaged leg, the Lord of the DunBroch clan flung himself at the beast to stab it deep in its ankle from behind. The beast reared up with a bellow of pain, giving Merida the opportunity to leap forward, the word "_Momentum_" on her lips, to violently gash the bear across its stomach.

Blue flame erupted from the wound as the wisps' power was channeled from the blade into the transformed Prince, causing it to writhe in agony. His red eyes fell on Fergus, who was trying to haul himself away before he was crushed. His teeth bared, Mor'du lunged for him, but found himself hauled backwards by the transformed Queen.

As the trio of cubs scurried forward and dragged Fergus away, Mor'du turned back towards Elinor and staggered towards her with his good leg, but she threw herself aside just in time, causing him to crash into the damaged menhir instead. Now seizing her chance, Elinor slammed him over and over again into the stone, causing more cracks to appear with every blow. Merida's eyes widened, understanding what her mother was trying to do, and the wisps responded, filling her mind with knowledge of a certain technique.

Enraged beyond all belief, Mor'du thrust his head forward and bit down savagely on the smaller bear's shoulder, freezing her in pain, and a final swing sent her flying away from him. But before he could do anything else, something else came into view: that of the Princess holding her glowing sword aloft and racing towards him, despite the shouts of her father and the roars of the other bear.

"The thread of fate that keeps you alive is about to be severed!" Merida hissed, her eyes narrowed. As she ran, the world slowed down before her eyes, and energy flowed from the wisps, through her blade, and into her body. One tilt of the blade caught the moonlight just so to give it a silver-blue sheen, which resulted in a trail of iridescent light behind her as she leapt off the ground at the behemoth. Her hands tightened on the handle of Three Kings, as she yelled out the words of her last attack.

"_**Cnoc… BRIS!**_"

A flash of blue streaked past the behemoth and the menhir, carving a line of light that bisected both, before vanishing to reveal Merida standing behind the menhir, sword oustretched. A second passed, then almost spontaneously, the relentless Mor'du crumpled to the ground like a puppet with cut strings. As he lay there groaning, the massive menhir, weakened by the constant blows against it, finally toppled over like a felled tree, crushing the monster underneath it with a muffled _crunch_.

Merida let out a huge breath as the full impact of what happened finally hit her all at once, and she turned around to see the aftermath of her work. As she stared at the stone, a circle of blue smoke started blooming from the rock's surface, before coalescing into the ghostly silhouette of a tall, burly Celtic man with furs.

As Merida gazed at him, the sword in her hand started to shake, and the three wisps emerged from the blade, floating in mid-air in front of her. The next moment, they started to emit blue smoke and grow as well, until three more men with furs stood before the first. Merida sucked in a breath when she realized who the wisps that were helping her were: Mor'du's brothers when he was still human.

The four ghostly men stared at each other for a long moment, before the eldest bowed to the others in regret. The three exchanged looks at that, and then one put his hand on his shoulder. In the look they shared, no words were needed; in death, all his sins were forgiven.

The four brothers then turned to Merida, and nodded solemnly to her in thanks, before all four transformed back into will-o'-de-wisps in another flash of blue. The Prince's freed spirit rose into the air and disappeared into the night sky, as the rest flew back into the sabre now lying on the ground.

Instantly, the blade rose into the air of its own accord, before disintegrating into a mass of blue sparks. At the same time, Merida's armor started to glow and shimmer bright blue, as it started evaporating into blue flames and smoke. When all the effects died down, the Princess of DunBroch stood in her original teal dress, some sort of card now clutched in her hand.

* * *

As Merida stood there, looking at the card in contemplation, she suddenly became aware of the sun's rays peeking over the horizion. "The second sun!" she gasped. Hastily, she ran to Angus and pulled the tapestry off his back, before running to the bear and throwing it over her. "Mum, I understand now! I understand what happened. I was selfish, I was foolish, I…" Her words were suddenly cut off with a gasp, when she looked into her mother's eyes, and saw only the black, animalistic eyes of the bear.

Merida looked back at the dawn, before the real impact of what was happening hit her like Mor'du's paw. "No… _no!_ Mum! You can't go!" She fell to her knees as the bear, blinking in what might have been confusion, snuffled at her face. "I haven't told you that I was sorry! That I shouldn't have tried to change you! That… that it was my fault…" Tears now started to flow freely as she wrapped her arms around the bear's neck.

The members of the four clans observed the scene with nothing but sorrow. Fergus miserably watched his daughter break down in tears at the beast that was evidently his wife. He was only partially aware of the triplets huddling around him, as he unconsciously picked one up in one arm, patted the head of the second, and let the third cling tightly to his good leg.

"…It was all my fault," the Princess wept, clinging to what should be her mother, "I did this to you… to us. The Morrigan was right. I don't care about my destiny any more! I don't care if I never ride Angus, or shoot arrows, or swordfight ever again, I don't care if I'm bound to my destiny until my dying day… I… I just want you back… I want you back, mummy…" Her words trailed off into a whisper as she sobbed into black fur and the morning sun slowly shone down on the two of them, illuminating the tapestry… and the repaired tear in its picture.

"… I love you," Merida finally murmured, praying that if nothing else, those words were the last thing her mother ever heard from her.

It was not until a hand started stroking her hair did she realize that they wouldn't be.

The Princess looked up in shock to gaze into the brown eyes of her mother, as they gazed back at her from a teary, _human_ face. "Mum!" she gasped through her tears. "_You're back!"_

Queen Elinor smiled with eyes brimming with tears and emotion, as she began smothering her daughter's face with all the kisses she could. Every bit of love she couldn't show to her child in her bear form she now gave to her this moment.

"You changed!" her daughter finally said, staring at her in wonder.

"Oh darling," the Queen replied, practically radiating joy, "We _both_ have." With a final kiss on her forehead, the two of them felt the bond between them return, stronger than ever before, as the world smiled down upon them.

* * *

From the top of a tree a few miles away, a black-clad woman watched the scene in the distance with raven's eyes, as the big burly father and his sons embraced their family, laughing in joy and relief, as the other clans smiled around them and trying not to break down as well.

"Well, all's well that ends well, eh?" her familiar squawked. "Does that mean our rest is over?"

"Unfortunately," said the Morrigan stoically, but with the tiniest hint of a smile. As her pet started griping about getting back to work and exhalting at losing the stupid bear disguise, she turned her attention to the will-o'-de-wisp now floating in the palm of her hand.

"Come along then, Prince," she said to it. "The Veiled Court awaits." With that, she shrank into the form of a large black corvid and took to the air, the will-o'-de-wisp clasped in one talon.

Her familiar flapped up alongside her. "So," it croaked, "Looking forward to seeing the Dagda again?"

An annoyed wing cuff knocked it out of the sky.

* * *

Once again, I hope this chapter passes muster. I might go through it again a few times if I feel it needs perking up. And I know some people may call these Ass-Pulls, what else are they going to be?

Skirtzzz, thank you so much for waiting again! Sorry I took so long, but you know how uni life is these days: all assignments and midterms and not much else!

For those who are curious, the name of Merida's final attack is in Gaelic Scottish, which roughly translates to "_Hill-Break_". It comes from the power of the Caladbolg, a sword from Celtic mythology which is capable of shearing the top of a hill off with one strike, and the Zantetsu attack from the Samurai Dressphere, which translates to "_Iron-Cutting_". And of course, the sword's name, Three Kings, comes from the souls of Mor'du's three brothers infused into it.

If you're wondering how I associated a raven goddess like the Morrigan with the bear-motif witch, I thought that for a goddess going incognito on earth, who would suspect the Morrigan to put so much emphasis on bears? The raven is just a small reminder of what she _really_ is.

Like before, find Merida's samurai costume, created by the talented DeviantArtist Skirtzzz here (scrap all the spaces)!: ** skirtzzz . deviantart dotcom / Samurai - Merida - 304708964**

Review and Critique as you like; more support will inspire me to work faster! But please, no flaming!

**Next Chapter: The Silent Sapphire**


	3. The Silent Sapphire

**Princess Fantasy D X-2**

**A/N: **I have never been inspired enough to write stories about any fanart before, until I saw the work of deviantart artist Skirtzzz, specifically her Final Fantasy Disney Dressphere series. With her blessing, this will be the first of a series of final scene rewrites, using the powers of the dresspheres to possibly change the script, or failing that, make the scene worthy of a Final Fantasy series. Replicating the feel for such an incredible franchise will be a challenge, but I swear I'll do my best!

If you haven't seen any of the movies or their endings, this could be a little spoilerific, but if you have or don't mind, hang on for the ride!

**Disclaimer**: See Chapter 1.

* * *

**The Silent Sapphire**

As Milo Thatch entered the king's chambers, his heart sank down to his feet to see the ancient man lying on his bed, gravely weakened. Dr. Joshua Sweet looked up from him with a sobering look.

"How's he doing?" Milo asked slowly.

The burly doctor sighed. "Not good, I'm afraid. Internal bleeding. There's nothing more I can do." He was under no illusion that said internal bleeding wasn't caused by a sucker punch to the sternum.

"What a nightmare," Milo lamented, staring down at the ruler he had inadvertently caused the death of. "And I brought it here."

"Ah, don't go beating yourself up," Sweet waved it away. "He's been after that crystal since Iceland."

Milo suddenly looked up, a realization coming to him. "The crystal! Sweet, that's it!" He moved to lift the King's crystal pendant. "These crystals, they have some sort of _healing_ energy! I've seen it work!"

"No…" a wrinkled hand grasped Milo's own, and the linguist gulped as he looked into the clouded eyes of King Kashekim. "Without the proximity of the Heart… that feat is impossible."

Milo's face fell as the idea was swept away. The King gazed mournfully up at him. "Where is my daughter?"

"Well she… she…" Milo tried, but couldn't tell the King of his daughter's fate, instead sighing in defeat.

King Kashekim's face grew even more sorrowful. "She has been chosen, like her mother before her."

"What?"

The King's voice drifted off, recalling the tale of his people's destruction many eons ago. "In times of danger, the Heart will choose a host, one of royal blood to protect itself and its people. It will accept no other."

"Wait, wait a minute," said Milo, sitting down next to the aging man. "_Choose?_ So this thing… is alive?"

"In a way," Kashekim replied, gulping for breath. "The Heart of Atlantis was said to have been given to our people by the Gods at the very start of our civilization. It thrives on the collective emotions of all who came before us. And in return, it provides power, longevity, protection. As it grew, it developed a consciousness of its own."

The King paused to give a few weak coughs, his regret growing. "In my arrogance, I sought to use it as a weapon of war. But the Heart disapproved, and its power proved too great to control. It overwhelmed us, and led to our destruction." The rumbling of a once-grand city sinking into the ocean echoed in his memory.

"That's why you hid it beneath the city," Milo understood. "To keep history from repeating itself!"

Kashekim nodded. "And to prevent Kida from suffering the same fate as my beloved wife. She was chosen by the Heart as a sacrifice, to save us from our own failures. Now, our daughter has been chosen, to save us from that man."

"What do you mean?" Milo asked hurriedly. "What's going to happen to Kida?"

"If she remains bonded to the Heart, she could be lost to it forever," answered the King, a tear leaking from his eye. "The love for my daughter, is all I have left. My burden would have been hers when the time is right."

"But now," the King reached up, and removed his crystal, "it falls to you."

Milo was thunderstruck at that. "Me?" he whispered, taking the outstretched crystal.

"My fear of repeating the past led me to close it off entirely," breathed Kashekim, now struggling to even speak. "… I outlawed… the study of our past… to keep my people safe. But now… with the crystal gone… the past may be… the only thing to save us."

The ancient man knew he had only a moment to share his last secrets. "Under my throne… is the location of the secrets… I had sealed away for my people's safety. Use them… to return the Heart."

Old fingers clasped around Milo's own, and bespectacled eyes met those of a blind, desperate man. "Please. Save Atlantis. Save my daughter…"

With his last plea on his lips, King Kashekin took his final breath, and his insensate fingers slipped from Milo's hands. The linguist stared down numbly at the immobile King, as his guards bowed down silently at the demise of their ruler.

* * *

Dr. Sweet closed his eyes in respect, before packing away his tools. "So," he said, turning to the contemplating linguist, "What's it gonna be?"

"Excuse me?" blinked Milo, not quite believing his ears.

"I followed you in, and I'll follow you out," answered Dr. Sweet. "It's your decision."

That one statement opened the floodgates in Milo's temper. "Oh, _my decision?_" he snapped, "Well, I think we've seen how effective _my_ decisions have been. Let's recap: I lead a band of plundering vandals to the greatest archeological find in recorded history, thus enabling the kidnap and/or murder of the _royal family_!" His voice grew louder and louder until he was almost yelling in Sweet's face. "Not to mention personally delivering the most powerful force known to man into the hands of a _mercenary nutcase__**, **__who's__probably going to sell it to the KAISER_!" Milo took a breath. "_HAVE I LEFT ANYTHING OUT?!_"

"Well, you did set the camp on fire and drop us down that big hole," Sweet admitted.

"_Thank you!_" declared Milo. "Thank you very much!" He strode to the stone throne only a short distance away, and slumped to the ground at the base of it, a picture of defeat.

Sweet was silent for a moment, before reaching down and picking up the Shepherd's Journal that Milo had thrown in his ranting. "Of course, it's been my experience, that when you hit rock bottom, the only place left to go is up," he said wisely.

"Who told you that?" asked Milo bitterly.

"A fella by the name of Thaddeus Thatch."

The mention of his grandfather's name halted Milo's thoughts in their tracks, before igniting them with determination. The linguist glanced down at the crystal shining in his hand, and clenched it in a fist. His grandfather wouldn't give up for what he believed in, and neither would he.

It was at that point that he realized exactly what he was leaning against, and remembered the king's final words to him. He turned around to examine the throne's base, and spotted a small crystal-shaped indentation in its base, almost indisinguishable from the regular carvings. Tentatively, he inserted the crystal, and watched as the carvings lit up with blue light, and a small panel slid open on the side.

Milo reached in and pulled out a small stone box, inscribed with King Kashekim's name on the top in Atlantean glyphs. When he pulled it open and saw what was in it, his eyes widened behind his glasses.

* * *

The main crew of the _Ulysses_ watched the milling citizens of Atlantis, half of which were staring across the now obliterated bridge leading to the surface, and the other shooting angry glares at them for their hand in their king's death. Between Vinny Santorini Molière, Audrey Ramirez, Mrs. Wilhemina Packard, and Cookie Farnsworth, they had enough guilt going around to last them through the trip back to the surface… if they ever did.

It was at that point that Milo strode out of the King's temple, followed by Dr. Sweet. Eyes turned towards him only to blink in surprise; Milo now had the King's own blue crystal around his neck, a small stone box tucked under his arm, and the steely look in his eye almost made him seem twice as tall and broad as he was.

"Milo, where are you going?" asked Audrey.

"I'm going after Rourke," replied Milo, heading right past her.

The rest of the crew exchanged shocked glances. "Milo, that's crazy!" interjected the mechanic.

But the linguist did not pay her any heed. "I didn't say it was the _smart_ thing. But it is the _right_ thing." He strode off towards a small clearing, a purpose clearly in mind.

Audrey stared after him, before sighing in exasperation. "Come on, we'd better make sure he doesn't hurt himself."

The small group found Milo standing in the middle of the circular platform on the side of the city, one side open to the air and pointing towards the entrance to which they had originally entered the city chamber. The linguist had the box set beside him and was now reading from a piece of parchment "Milo, what do you think you're doing?" asked Audrey cautiously.

"Following the King's last wishes," answered Milo, still scanning the sheet. "_Only in Atlantis's darkest hour will the secrets of the past be used to preserve its future_." His eyes looked at a diamond-like symbol drawn at the bottom of the parchment, and then at the same diamond symbol in the centre of the platform.

"Slot in… three clicks right… one left… push in… pull out!" Milo recited, inserting the King's old crystal into a small depression in the centre of said symbol, and following the steps written. As soon as he pulled it out, the platform lit up, blue lines of light tracing themselves along every carving inscribed in the stone. A moment later, the glowing surface of the platform started to rise, the whole piece folding out like a box lid. Milo just managed to make it to the edge of the platform before he got tilted over the edge.

When the lid finally stopped moving, sticking out into mid-air, Milo, the crew, and a large number of Atlanteans stared at what had been revealed. The entire platform had concealed what was obviously an Atlantean hangar, revealing a large number of stone craft in the forms of various sea creatures, damp and dank from misuse.

"This… this is great!" Milo exclaimed. "This is just what we need!" He darted down a revealed flight of stairs in the side of the hangar, and ran towards a compact stone vehicle that vaguely resembled a piranha.

The rest of the crew followed curiously. "What in the world are those?" asked Audrey.

"Our way to stop Rourke! Just follow my lead!" answered Milo, grasping his crystal again. Placing one hand on a stone panel, he inserted the crystal into another stone slot, turned it halfway to the right, then a quarter turn back. Instantly, the fish flared with blue light, its blank stone eyes lit up like headlights, and it levitated off the ground with a _hum_.

Everyone stared agog at the sight, except for Mrs. Packard. "Well, I'm impressed," she muttered in her usual deadpan, nasal tone.

"It's simple," Milo said, addressing one of the notes he had taken from the box. "All you gotta do-"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, shut up, we get it, okay?" Audrey dismissed, clambering up behind him and reaching for the now-glowing panel.

"No no! Wait!" Milo cried. Too late to stop, Audrey placed her hand on the panel, and like a bullet, the aircraft shot backwards, crashing into the wall and embedding itself hard in it.

"Gently!" Milo muttered, trying to stop his ears from ringing. "Just _gently_."

By now, a good number of the Atlantean guard had gathered around the machines, looking at them in awe. "How is this done?" asked one of them.

"All you have to do is use the crystals. Kida showed me," Milo answered, leaping down. He moved to another hammerhead-shark shaped craft as the Atlanteans crowded around. "Half turn right. Quarter turn back. Keep your hand on the pad." He demonstrated and felt the ship come to life under him. "Just think of where and how fast you want to go, and it will take care of the rest."

The guards' eyes lit up at the prospect of saving their city, and they all scattered to different craft. The crew of the _Ulysses_ joined them, leaping onto vehicles that already had drivers. One by one, the Atlantean craft rose into the air for the first time in millennia: five sleek _Aktirak_ patrollers like the one Milo was riding, ten compact, piranha-like _Martag_ fighters, six larger, manta ray-like _Baylokh_ gliders, four wide, turtle-shaped _Turtak_ destroyers, three spindly-legged, crab-like _Martak_ bombers, three massive, multi-manned barracuda-like _Rakuda_ cruisers, and a single, equally-massive squid-like _Kraken_ dreadnought.

"Alright, this is it!" Milo yelled to the fleet. "We're gonna rescue the princess! We're gonna save Atlantis! Or we're gonna die trying!" Shoving the panel, he took point as 32 airships flew towards the opening, the people of Atlantis cheering and shouting in encouragement. "_Let's do it!_"

* * *

One by one, the craft flew through the mist surrounding the city and entered the cavernous opening, deftly manoeuvering away from the walls. As they flew deeper and deeper into the caves, Milo thought he heard a dim explosion further down, followed by a series of muffled _thuds_ and _crashes_, almost like someone had blasted a wall and caused a small avalanche.

Milo gritted his teeth. Whatever Rourke was planning to do, he wasn't going to get away.

As they drew closer to the volcanic cavern where they had ended up after falling down the bridge, Milo started shouting his game plan to the others. "Okay, here's the plan! We're gonna come in low and fast and take them by surprise!"

"I got news for you, Milo!" Audrey shouted back. "Rourke is never surprised and he's got a lot of guns!"

"Well when he sees what we've got, I think he will be!" Milo replied. "These things can do a lot more than just fly!"

"Yeah, like what?" Vinny asked.

But before Milo could answer, they rounded a corner and came face to face with a giant red balloon floating up the volcanic shaft, which now had a hole with sunlight shining through. Assorted trucks with masked mercenaries were scattered around the cavern, observing the balloon rising with huge spotlights. Most prominent, though, was the steel case containing the crystal Kida shackled to the bottom of the balloon, the propeller-guided zeppelin clearly being used to lift her to the surface.

Milo's eyes locked with the burly Rourke's from under the case. "There they are!" he yelled. He dimly heard Rourke bellow something like "We've got company!" before the lead started flying.

The fleet shot in all directions, twisting and turning to avoid the bullets. The Atlantean warriors retaliated with their arrows, but the multitude of crevices and rock outcroppings meant that the mercenaries had all the cover they needed to render them obsolete. The small army countered with machine guns and mortars, turning the air into a fireworks display. One unlucky blast caught one of the _Martags_ square in the belly, sending it and its screaming pilots down to the ground in a blaze of blue lightning and stone.

With no real way to fight back, the Atlantean craft were reduced to dodging fire for all they were worth, even as Milo saw Rourke and Helga leap onto a platform attached to the gyro-evac. The larger and slower craft like the _Martaks_, _Rakudas_ and the _Kraken_ were especially obvious targets, and their stone surfaces were soon pitted with bullet holes. To make matters worse, Rourke had started launching gas-powered mini-planes armed with machine guns to chase after the crafts in mid-air.

As Milo aimed his _Aktirak_ towards the steel case, a fusillade of bullets from three of said aircraft poured down on him, deflecting off the stone surface and forcing him to break away. "Holy smokes!" he yelped at Audrey. "You told me he only had guns!"

"What I said was he's never surprised!" Audrey yelled back.

"But what made him bring _gliders_ on this trip in the first place?"

Vinny darted around the linguist, trying desperately to avoid fire from an _anti-air gun_. "Milo, we're getting killed out here! I thought you had a plan!"

"Oh, right!" Milo gasped, remembering what he was trying to tell Vinny earlier. "There's a hand-shaped panel to your right! That should activate its energy weapons!" Demonstrating, he slammed his hand against said panel on the _Aktirak_ and instantly, the craft's flat head lit up like a plasma torch. Banking hard to the right, Milo aimed it at an approaching attack glider, and held on for dear life as the Atlantean patroller tore clean through it.

Vinny's eyes lit up as he wheeled his _Martag_ back around at the gun turret. As he ducked to avoid the bullets, he found the aforementioned panel and struck it, sending a bolt of blue energy arcing out of the fish's mouth at the turret. An explosion blew said turret to smithereens and sent the user careening through the air. "Okay, _now_ things are getting good!"

Soon, the word had spread throughout the Atlantean pilots, who all started sending their armaments after the enemy for all they were worth. The _Martags_ swarmed the soldiers like the piranhas they were crafted after, while the surprisingly agile and silent _Baylokhs_ ducked and dodged around enemy fire, getting close enough for their short-range, wide-spread bursts to do their work. The _Turtaks'_ assault-calibrated energy beams vaporised ammo trucks and enemy cover, and the _Rakuda_ cruisers sent torpedo-like energy pulses arcing after fleeing gliders, even as their passengers peppered them with more arrows. But it was the behemoth of the _Kraken_ that was now a real force on the battlefield: as two pilots controlled the nine tentacles that tried to swat enemies out of the air, its main pilot scattered ground troops with its own mouth-launched energy ray.

Milo ripped through another glider as he made a beeline for the gyro-evac, which was gaining height with every moment. "I've got to get to Kida!" he shouted. "Audrey, Sweet, Vinnie, you need to draw Rourke's fire!" Gliding next to two of the _Martak_ crews, he called to them, "Get above that thing and knock it down! Don't let it reach the light!"

"Indeed we shall!" called back one of the guards. Swiftly, the two rode their vehicles over the gyro-evac, as the rest of the fleet kept the fighters at bay. Once they were in position, the two activated their armaments, the crab-like crafts' spindly legs surging with blue light. Blue orbs of energy formed at their tips, before dropping down on the balloon like bombs.

Onboard the gyro-evac, Rourke and Helga braced themselves as their craft was rocked by seveal explosions. "Lieutenant!" barked the commander, pointing up at the bombers. Helga spun and aimed a flare gun up at the craft, the magnesium explosive shattering a few legs of one of the _Martaks_ and forcing the two to weave away before she fired again.

As Rourke kept the crew at bay with a handheld _minigun_ of all things, Milo raced for the chamber dangling underneath the gyro-evac. Halting the _Aktirak _next to it in mid-air, he pulled out his crystal and started hammering against the glass, using it as a chisel. "Come on, Kida! I know you're in there! Please, come out!" muttered Milo fervently.

Unfortunately for him, Rourke, hitting the deck to avoid a blast from Vinny, caught sight of him. "Some people just don't know when to quit!" he sighed, turning towards Helga, who also looked down. Obediently, she moved to an array of aerial bombs, pulled the pin and let one loose. The explosive blew apart Milo's unmanned _Aktirak_ and threw him and the capsule into a pendulum swing. Milo held onto the chamber for dear life.

"Milo, no!" shouted Audrey in worry, but a fusillade of bullets impacting against her and Sweet's own _Aktirak_ forced them to bank away.

"Sorry, Mr. Thatch! It looks like you're plum out of luck!" Rourke called down to him, hefting his gun. "If only you'd quit while you were behind, then I wouldn't have to resort to this!"

Pointing his firearm over the side, he waited for an opening between the propellors. "Old Whitmore designed that capsule to be completely impenetrable!" he said with a grim smile. "Shame I can't say the same for you!"

Clinging onto the chamber with only one arm, Milo felt the g-forces almost tear his fingers loose. He almost didn't register Rourke aiming his weapon down at him, but pushed it out of his head and raised the crystal for one final strike.

"_KIDA!_" he yelled, bringing the crystal down for one last desperate strike, just as Rourke found his opening.

A gunshot and a glass-crack echoed out at exactly the same moment.

* * *

From the moment Kida felt her body merge with the Heart of Atlantis, every sense she possessed vanished. With no way to tell where she was or what was happening to her, all she could do was float in the unknown void that seemed to be the interior of the crystal.

She didn't even know how long she was floating in the void, but all of a sudden, she found herself able to hear again, and a strange voice came to her. "_Princess Kidagakash, hear my voice. There is much I need to tell you._"

"Wh-who is there?" whispered Kida, wishing she had eyes to see who was speaking.

Almost instantly, her wish was granted, and her vision was filled with a void of bright azure, although she couldn't see any sign of her having a body nor a head. Somehow, she could still shift her field of vision, but couldn't see anything until she "turned" around.

Emerging out of the light was a tall white-haired Atlantean woman in ornate blue robes, with alluring, sculpted features and an air of both kindness and royalty around her. Her distinctive Atlantean tattoos were coiled above and below her right eye, but Kida didn't need them to instantly recognize her.

"Mother…" whispered Kida in Atlantean, not believing what was in front of her. "It's you! Mother!" She tried to move forward, but found that she could not get any closer to her.

Queen Idesha smiled quietly and opened her eyes, and Kida stared when her eyes revealed a pair of glowing-azure irises. When she spoke, it had a strange resonant tone that gave it a divine air. "_I am afraid not,_" she said. "_This is merely a guise taken from both your memories and that of the past rulers. I would not be able to speak with you otherwise._"

"Past rulers?" murmured Kida. "I don't understand. Who are you?"

"_The old tales, long forgotten by your people, once spoke greatly of me and my brethen,_" answered the woman, moving closer to her perspective. "_I am, after all, the one who's Heart you have entered to save your people._"

Kida would've blinked if she could. "But the Heart was said to have come from the Gods. If you tell the truth then that means…" Her voice trailed off as she realized who she was talking to.

The being who held her mother's face nodded. "_You were always one to continue looking for our tales, even if you couldn't understand them._" Her eyes seemed to shine brighter. "_But if you could, you would know my name. Lady Kritim, Goddess of Life and Light._"

Kida's first instinct was to prostate herself in front of the Goddess, but forgot she didn't have a body to do so. She settled for lowering her field of vision and murmuring over and over again, "Exalted spirit, I beg you for your forgiveness. My people did not mean to lose sight of our place all those years ago. You and your brethren have every right to forsake us, but if it means preserving my people, I will throw myself into the ether…"

"_Hush, my dear,_" Lady Kritim moved forward and placed a hand under her chin, lifting her view up to meet hers. Kida blinked when she felt the touch of the deity, then blinked again when she found she had her own body again. "_There is no need for anyone to sacrifice anything. Mistakes in the past are just that, in the past. The willingness to give your own life for your people's is enough for us._"

Kida felt her eyes brim with hopeful tears. "Thank you, exalted one_,_" she whispered. "So you will help us?"

Lady Kritim's expression dimmed slighly. "_I will, but with you as my avatar restrained like this, I cannot. I'm sorry, but isolated from the emotions of those who hold my crystals, there is little I can do._"

The Princess's tears turned from hope to despair. "So there is nothing I can do from in here? I cannot even protect my friends or my people from being massacred by those animals?"

The Goddess's eyes glimmered slightly, before smiling wanly. "_Not until this young man succeeds in saving you._" She waved one hand to the side, revealing the image of a porthole: and a certain bespectacled linguist banging on the porthole like a man possessed.

"Milo!" gasped Kida, watching him anxiously. But before she could say more, an explosion sent the scene outside rocking and Milo clinging to the capsule for all he was worth.

"NO!" cried the Princess, reaching for the image, but found her hand passing clear through it. "Please, you have to save him!"

"_I wish I could,_" whispered Lady Kritim, "_But until you are released, there is nothing we can do to help._"

"Don't say that!" cried Kida frantically. "Ever since we were struck down for our hubris, I have been doing my best to revive my people's culture, yet this man has done what I had been trying to do: he gave us a way to read our old secrets and restore our civilization. With what I saw of that mercenary, there is no way Milo could hope to win against him, and yet he has managed to rally my people enough to fight against them! If he can do the impossible, so can I!"

Lady Kritim was about to respond sadly, when a sudden glow pulsing from her eyes cut her off. Both she and Kida stared as her eyes, Kida's crystal, and their entire surroundings started to glow brighter and brighter. "_What's this?_" murmured the Goddess. "_Is all this fueled by your emotion? Your desire to protect your people? The one you care about?_"

A smile curved the deity's lips. "_Yes… this could work._"

Kida reached up to grasp her crystal with one hand. "So, you _can_ help us?"

"_In a way,_" said Lady Kritim mysteriously, clasping Kida's hand between her own. "_Your drive to save your people tell me that the only person who can truly save them… is you. But do not despair, my powers will be at your disposal._"

"I… I don't understand."

"_The intruder seeks to thieve my power for his own greed,_" said the Goddess, even as the world grew bright enough to blind the princess. "_So, who better to take it back from him than another thief?_"

* * *

Milo only just registered was the glass finally cracking at the same time he heard Rourke's gunshot, so he didn't react fast enough to register a metallic blade slicing through the door crack where the lock was, a foot from his side. But he did register the door suddenly bursting open and swinging him out into thin air, the bullets from Rourke's gun whizzing right past him.

"Yaaagh!" Milo yelled in fright, almost losing his grip in surprise, but a sudden hand on his wrist prevented that from happening.

"Do not worry, Milo," a familiar voice called to him. "I've got you."

The next thing Milo knew, he was flying through the air being pulled by his wrist, moving at speeds that no human, Atlantean or not, was capable of. He literally felt the propeller blades graze his limbs as they went hurtling through a gap, before finally coming to a stop on the main platform of the gyro-evac. Panting on his knees, Milo glanced up to see exactly who grabbed him, and his eyes nearly fell out of his head.

Grasping his arm was an un-crystallized Kida, her pupils still glowing a bright azure, but dressed in a way he'd _never_ seen before. Over what appeared to be a dark-blue bikini similar to her old outfit, she wore a turquoise knee-length skirt, secured by gold rings and riding on her hips, and a length of cloth that flowed from her top and covered her back, both seemingly made of ruffly crêpe cloth. Her sandals were replaced by light-blue shoes built for light, fast footwork, and her arms were covered in long sleeves made of the same cyan cloth, secured with gold bangles. Most prominent, though, were the long curved knives with ornate, round hilts that she now carried, one with a blade-parallel handle and the other with a blade-perpendicular handle.

Rourke and Helga had caught sight of them and were staring in disbelief. "What the blazes? How'd you get up here?" Rourke exclaimed. "Where's my treasure?"

"It doesn't like to be stolen, _thief_," snarled Kida, crossing her twin knives, Dem and Mar in front of her. "You try to take my people's livelihoods, and I'll take back a lot more than that."

The two mercenaries quickly recovered and aimed their firearms at her and Milo. "I wouldn't want to damage the merchandise, but a chipped crystal is better than none," Rourke growled. "So get back in your cage or the two of you will drop faster than that old geezer when I tapped him!"

Kida's face contorted with fury. "You dare…" With a shriek, she shot forward at them, who instantly opened fire. Milo blinked at said shriek, it was a phrase in Atlantean: "_Sticky Fingers._"

Milo ducked as the lead whizzed over him, when the gunfire abruptly cut off a second later. The linguist looked up, then blinked when he saw Rourke and Helga missing their weapons and looking back in disbelief, and Kida standing behind them holding both Rourke's minigun and Helga's pistol. Milo blinked: how did she get both weapons out of their hands with no resistance, or get behind them that fast?

Kida scowled and threw both firearms off the side of the platform out of sight. "Hey!" Rourke exclaimed furiously. "That was custom-made!" With one fist, he smashed the glass of a nearby fire case and pulled out a large hatchet, before stomping forward to do battle.

Kida dodged his wild swing, and spun around, gashing through Rourke's singlet with a blade. Helga snarled and lashed out with a kick, but the Princess ducked underneath it and knocked her other leg out from under her, dropping her to the deck. Before she could follow up, she had to throw herself back to dodge another chop from Rourke that bit into the wooden deck.

Milo struggled to his feet and leapt at Rourke from behind, but all he did was distract him from Kida and left his lieutenant to take care of her, reaching behind, gripping the smaller man by the neck and hauling him off his back. Rourke's face was twisted into an ugly sneer as he held Milo in the air with one hand.

"Well, I have to hand it to ya, you're a bigger pain in the neck than I ever thought possible," he sneered, as Milo struggled in his grip. He raised the hatchet above his head. "You and your little girlfriend almost cost me a few billion dollars, but once we get to the surface… well, it'll be a long way down for a twig with no legs."

Helga managed to deflect a strike from Kida's blade, before drawing herself in to deliver a bruising punch on the Princess's left breast. When Kida flinched, the lieutenant managed to grab Dem, Kida's left blade, from her, and moved in for the kill.

It was at this moment that the gyro-evac started to shudder, as energy attacks from two of the _Rakudas_ started blasting away at the side pods, tearing holes in two of them with their energy torpedoes. The zeppelin started to list to the side, throwing Helga off balance. Kida took her chance, her hand tightening on Mar's handle and infusing it with blue energy. She lashed out with a snap of "_Borrowed Time!_", touching Helga's shoulder with the tip. Instantly, blue Atlantean glyphs spread from the point of contact and the woman's entire body froze up.

Kida whipped her blade from Helga's hand, and lunged for Rourke like a bolt of lightning. Her blades hooked around his hatchet and neatly plucked it from his hand, causing him to swing down at Milo with an empty hand. Rourke did a double take and spun around, but Kida was already flipping over his head and bringing her feet down on his outstretched arm, forcing him to drop Milo.

Rourke cradled his injured wrist as his expression went from annoyed to downright murderous, looking from his sinking balloon to the two meddlers. "I am _this_ close to a major payday, and the two of you are not sending it up in smoke!" Clenching his fists, he stormed at Milo and Kida, even as Helga unfroze and came at them again.

Milo grabbed the axe from Kida's hands and swung at Rourke, but the larger man dodged and tore it from his hands. Paling, the linguist ducked as the tables turned again, but a boot to the chest knocked him into the fabric of the balloon. Meanwhile, Kida was dancing away from every kick and punch Helga was throwing, leaving small gashes on her limbs with every attack.

"Tired, Mr. Thatch?" sneered Rourke, raising his axe for one last blow. "That's a real shame, 'cause I'm just getting warmed up!" With a grunt, he slashed down, but Milo managed to scramble out of the way. The axe tore through the fabric of the main balloon, venting a stream of hydrogen right into the commander's face. Rourke gave a choked yell and stumbled back, giving Milo enough of a chance to grab an empty steel barrel within arms reach, and throw it into Rourke's chest. The commander stumbled back into Helga, knocking both of them to the ground.

Kida saw her chance. Once again, she crossed Dem and Mar, causing the metal blades to transmute into pure blue crystal, which then started to glow with the same azure light as all Atlantean crystals. "Lady Kritim, guide my blades," she murmured. In a blur of motion, she shot forward, two words on her lips.

"_Heart Theft!_"

The crystal blades slashed into the chests of the two mercenaries, biting into their flesh, yet not drawing a drop of blood. The effect was instantaneous: both Rourke and Helga froze up, their skin suddenly lined with bright cyan lines, their eyes flaring with blue light, and their expressions a picture of complete blankness. A moment later, the lights winked out and both of them collapsed like ragdolls.

Milo crawled over and checked them. "They're still alive, but what was that?"

"_They strove to steal the Heart of our people,_" replied Kida, but in a voice Milo'd never heard before. "_So it is only fair that I take theirs. They will not desecrate our city, nor that of any others, ever again._"

It was at that point that the _Martaks_, having recovered from the initial bombing, got in place to drop another payload of energy bombs. This salvo finally breached the roof of the gyro-evac, releasing a stream of hydrogen and setting it alight. Milo and Kida were almost thrown of their feet by the violent shaking as the craft started to sink lower and lower in the air.

"Your Majesty, hurry!" cried the crew of two of the _Turtaks_ as the craft floated down to the same level. Kida picked up the two unconscious bodies and hurled them onto the back of one before gripping Milo by the arm and leaping the full distance onto the other. The two assault craft rushed away as the gyro-evac fell away beneath them to crash on the stone floor.

Milo and Kida breathed a sigh of relief, but it was short-lived when they saw the ground crack beneath the wreckage of the zeppelin. The fissures spread across the ground as magma started to seep through the cracks and fill the chamber.

"The volcano! _She awakes!_" cried Mole.

"It'll flood the city if we don't do something!" gasped Milo, sweating as the entire chamber started to heat up like an oven. "Kida, you're the crystal; can't you do something?"

"_I am afraid not, Milo Thatch,_" Kida said concernedly, "_but the defenses of Atlantis certainly can. But we must get me back to the city or all is lost._"

Milo didn't know why Kida was speaking like that, but this was no time to ask. "You heard the lady; back to the city! GO!" he yelled. As one, the remaining Atlantean craft turned tail and fled down the tunnel, the bubbling magma surging after them.

* * *

The _Turtak_ set down in the middle of the hangar, as did the remainder of the fleet. Milo struggled to the ground while Kida jumped to the centre of the platform, even as the first streams of lava started to flow out of the tunnels. "Kida, hurry!" called the linguist.

If possible, Kida's glowing eyes grew even brighter. "_Do not despair, Milo Thatch. No more people shall die today._" She struck Dem and Mar together and held them out to either side. "_In the name of Lady Kritim, Goddess of Life, let this city be preserved by the might of its guardians!_"

With two quick flicks, both blades were embedded in the stone, and instantly, the ground lit up with blue lights once again, growing and spreading across the stone until the whole city was illuminated by its shining-blue carvings. Kida's own crystal lit up like a flare, as the glow spread across her body until she was once again a being of crystal.

A moment later, the Princess leapt into the air as the ground around her exploded, the ten King Stones bursting through the ground and floating into the sky, circling the glowing Kida, and rising higher and higher until they were hovering over the city. The stones started to spin faster, and faster, and faster still, until all that could be seen in the sky was a ball of light surrounded by a rapidly-orbiting blur.

As everyone stared in awe at the sight, twelve beams of light suddenly shot out from it to strike strange rock formations all over the city. The next moment, the city started to tremble as the formations revealed themselves as the heads of gigantic stone golems, each one as tall as the city itself.

"_Hear me, Guardians of Atlantis, heralds of myself and my brethren!_" Kida's otherworldly voice echoed over the city over the rumbling of the rising statues and the approaching lava. "_I awaken you from your slumber to take your duties once again! To stand sentinel over our city, and to preserve it from danger!_"

One by one, the twelve Guardians, six male and six distinctly female, rose out of the water, ignoring the chunks of tephra now soaring over their heads, and started moving to the outskirts of the plateau the city and its surrounding waters rested on. Energy surged over their stone bodies, as the statues took their places at the edge of the cliff, facing down the approaching lava with no fear.

"_Raise the barrier!_" Kida called out one last time. "_**Protect!**_"

"_**Protect!**_" the largest golem, a feminine-shaped behemoth facing the lava head on, boomed. With a thunderous boom, she clapped her hands together and drew them apart, expanding a shimmering blue wall of energy from them.

"_**Protect! Protect!**_" the other giants echoed her cry and her actions, each one expanding a barrier of their own that deflected the shards of burning stone. As each barrier met, they merged into each other until a gigantic, pulsating blue dome covered the entire city.

Milo watched as the first surge of lava splashed into the wall, but despite the heat and pressure, the Guardians did not buckle and neither did their barrier. The lava rose higher and higher, until the entire dome had turned a seething gold color, a destructive tide held back by an impenetrable force. Then, the dome suddenly crackled with energy, and the lava dimmed, cooled and spontaneously hardened, sealing the city within a shell of stone.

For a moment, there was silence. Then the still-whirling crystal gave one last pulse of energy, and cracks started to appear in the stone layer outside the barrier, the energy of the Guardians forcing their way through. Bit by bit, the cracking shell crumbled, large chunks of stone falling off the dome and off the plateau. A few falling pieces even crushed the wall between the water and the cliff, turning the plateau into a circular waterfall, but the giants stood their ground, never dropping their barrier until the last few shards of earth had fallen to the ground below.

Milo let out a large breath as everything started to calm down, but then became aware of a light shining down from the crystal above. The stone heads had slowed down to a more sedate speed, and what was once a ball of light was now only a pulsating orb of energy like what he had seen before in the underground chamber. As the young linguist watched intently, the crystal gave one last flash of light, and a body emerged from the depths of the orb and started floating down to the surface.

Milo hurried into the beam of light and caught Kida. She was dressed back in her old outfit, her eyes were closed and her breathing was shallow, but she was still alive. As he held her in his arms, her eyes slowly fluttered open.

"M…Milo," she murmured, staring into the bespectacled eyes of her savior, before becoming aware of something in her hand. When she looked, she found the gold bangle that her mother had taken all those years ago, resting on top of a strange card. Tears welled up in her eyes at the memory of her parent and the act she had just replicated and survived, and she hugged Milo in relief.

Milo returned her embrace, just being thankful he had succeeded against all odds, when he suddenly became aware of something emerging from beneath the surrounding waters as the new cliffs drained them away. He pointed them out to Kida, whose frown turned into a big smile when she saw them.

The previously-submerged buildings from the great Cataclysm were surfacing from the lowering waters, like long-lost treasures being brought to light. For the first time in millennia, the full glory of Atlantis was there for everyone to see.

One by one, the crew of the _Ulysses_ and the citizens of Atlantis joined the couple to marvel at the newly restored city, the bodies of the two responsible all but forgotten. As Kida took Milo's hand in her own and squeezed it lovingly, she almost heard the whispers of Lady Kritim in her ear.

"_Let the Gods' light shine favor on Atlantis once more, and may you bring it into a new age of glory, Queen Kidagakash._"

* * *

Wow, this one was tough to write, both to get moving and to stop in the end. But I think it's worth it; Kida is seriously under-appreciated as a Disney Princess, and A:TLE was seriously under-rated as a Disney Movie. Once again, I hope this chapter passes muster. I might go through it again a few times if I feel it needs perking up.

I know the focus might have been a bit on Milo and Atlantis's ships, but when I saw all the information on the Atlantis Museum of History and Industry, I just _couldn't_ resist putting it all in! **webspace . webring dotcom / people / gr / rebmakash / AMusHiIn . HTM**

Skirtzzz, thank you so much for waiting again! Once again, I'm so sorry I took so long, but you know how uni life is these days: all assignments and midterms and not much else!

I'm cashing in my chapter's writer's change entitlement here: from many building-sized guardian statues to just twelve _city_-sized guardian statues – one for each of the twelve Atlantean Gods (see the science-and-religion sectin of the Atlantis Museum for more details).

And lastly, the names for Kida's blades, Dem and Mar, come from the Atlantean words for Land and Sea, respectively. It's pretty obvious why I chose those words.

Find Kida's thief costume, created by the talented DeviantArtist Skirtzzz here (scrap all the spaces)!: **skirtzzz . deviantart dotcom / Thief - Kida - 191945431  
**

Review and Critique as you like; more support will inspire me to work faster! But please, no flaming!

**Next Chapter: Patchwork Presents**


	4. Patchwork Presents

**Princess Fantasy D X-2**

**A/N: **I have never been inspired enough to write stories about any fanart before, until I saw the work of deviantart artist Skirtzzz, specifically her Final Fantasy Disney Dressphere series. With her blessing, this will be the first of a series of final scene rewrites, using the powers of the dresspheres to possibly change the script, or failing that, make the scene worthy of a Final Fantasy series. Replicating the feel for such an incredible franchise will be a challenge, but I swear I'll do my best!

If you haven't seen any of the movies or their endings, this could be a little spoilerific, but if you have or don't mind, hang on for the ride!

**Disclaimer**: See Chapter 1.

* * *

**Patchwork Presents**

The denizens of Halloweentown normally find the feeling of fear to be the most wonderful thing they could experience, but this was certainly not the case for the rag doll Sally, as she hurried down the gloomy street back to her father's laboratory. The moment she heard Jack was being targeted by the humans for his scare-Christmas antics, she knew for certain that she had to do _something_.

Maybe it was the fact that she was an artificial creation as opposed to a living monster in Halloweentown, or maybe it was due to her father keeping her cooped up for all these years, but out of all the citizens of her town, Sally was the only one who seemed to see Jack's good-intentioned holiday cheer for what it actually was doing to the kids: terrorizing them at the wrong time. But due to the townspeople seeing the holiday through a lens of their own frightening holiday, they were seeing the children's horror as the perfect Christmas. Sally knew she had to rescue Sandy Claws before the terrible something she had seen became a permanent reality.

Poking her head inside her home, she was relieved to see her nightshade still in effect on Dr. Finklestein, who was still snoring away on his desk after "trying" to disallow her from viewing Jack's exploits. Quietly, she slipped past him and headed down to her room. Once there, she headed straight for her ingredient cupboard, but instead of taking out a bottle, she reached into the very back of the bottommost shelf to withdraw a scrunched-up wad of paper, stuffed into the back corner to prevent her father from finding it.

"I do wish Father would take better care of his lab journals," she mused, "or this page wouldn't have fallen out." Carefully, she unfolded the scrap of paper to reveal a complicated-looking potion recipe, titled: "_Essence of Insight – Intelligence beyond compare at your fingertips._"

Sally closed her eyes in a silent wish. "I hope this will give me the insight to get Jack out of this mess!"

Quickly she set to work, grabbing the ingredients off the shelf and throwing them into her cauldron, frequently referring to the sheet. Werewolf fangs, swamp mud, campfire sparks, graveyard soil, and even a dash of haunted wails all went into the brew, which started to bubble and steam profusely.

"Stir twice clockwise… and finally," Sally consulted the list one last time. "3 units of electrical lightning?" Before she could confirm what she had read, a deep, moaning bell rang out, causing her to glance at the clock. "Oh dear! Already half an hour? I don't think Sandy Claws can wait any more!" She darted backed to her storage cupboard, leaving the paper fluttering to the ground. A small chink of light from the lamps illuminated the word she had just read.

"_3 units of Electrical lighting._"

With both hands, Sally hauled out a dangerous looking black bottle with a lightning bolt inscribed on it, that let out an ominous rumble of thunder every time she shook it the wrong way. The rag doll pursed her sewn lips as she tried to keep the noise down while moving it to her cauldron.

As carefully as she could, she turned the bottle over and struck the bottom three times. Three thunderclaps echoed through the room as three lightning bolts were spat out of the opening and into the smoking, blackish brew. Sally turned around for the page that should detail what's supposed to happen, but as a result, she didn't see what happened next.

Electricity arced across the surface of the seething liquid, causing it to surge, ripple, and bubble with thick purplish smoke like a volcanic crater. A moment later, the brew itself started to glow, the surface shining with an odd bronze sheen like a Halloween harvest moon. The bubbling and churning grew more vigorous, the liquid threatening to splash over the sides.

When Sally turned back to the cauldron, expecting to see a calm, silvery surface, that was exactly what happened.

The brew erupted like someone had thrown a bomb in it, drenching the room in thick, glowing-bronze slime. Sally didn't even have time to gasp before she was covered head-to-toe in thick, luminescent liquid. As she spluttered, trying to regain her balance, she could feel her fabric body absorbing the brew… infusing her with something. Something… inspiring.

As the glow faded and the liquid dripped off, the door to her room opened with a bang and Dr. Finklestein's wheelchair appeared at the top of the stairs, the scientist peering down into the commotion. "Sally!" he croaked, "What's all the ruckus? What on earth are you doing down there?" His beady eyes fell on his daughter's body emerging from the slime, and he choked. "Wh…what? Sally, what have you done?"

"I'm going to save Jack," came the solemn reply. Two hands reached for the mixing table (which had somehow managed to stay dry), and picked up two different bottles.

"Skellington? How can someone like you save him? I can't let you go out into the dangerous world! You're not ready!"

"And if you never let me see the world, when will I ever be ready?" Two different materials were poured into her hand and kneaded together, body moving as if on autopilot. A cold chill started to spread from the mixture.

"You'll be ready when I say so! And I say you're not going any-"

"_Black Ice!_" The mad doctor's tirade was cut off by a black lump smacking into his face before disintegrating into icy sparkles. Finklestein stood there staring blankly into space for a few seconds, before collapsing in his chair, snoring up a storm.

Bottles from the table and her cupboard were removed and _swallowed_, glass and all, before a hand reached into the now-empty cauldron to withdraw something. As she passed her father, she wheeled the unconscious scientist back to his desk. "My apologies, Father, but I have something to take care of, and you cannot stop me from doing it."

* * *

To jolly old Santa Claus, this had to be one of the worst Christmases ever. Kidnapped by a trio of wayward trick-or-treaters, delivered to an eccentric skeleton who somehow had the ridiculous idea he could replace him, thrown down a chute tighter than the worst chimney imaginable, and now being tortured by a burlap-sack-bodied gambler of a boogeyman, he really didn't know what was in store for him.

Said boogeyman Oogie Boogie stalked up to where he was hanging from a rope, a pair of dice rolled up in his sack-corner arm. His empty-looking eyes stared right into his own.

"Are you a gamblin' man, Sandy?" he chuckled evilly, rattling the dice. "Let's play!"

Before Santa could find out what would happen when he rolled a number, a sudden loud bang rang out and Oogie staggered back, shaking his now-smoking head. "What the – who did that?"

"That's enough, Oogie!" called out a female voice. "Your game ends now!" The barred window above them abruptly shattered inward, and a pale-skinned someone leapt in to land neatly outside Oogie's giant roulette wheel.

The boogeyman stared at the new arrival. She was a red-haired rag doll made of a strange white material, dressed in the oddest way. Above a pair of tough brown boots, she wore a pair of mismatched long socks that only went up to her knees. A half-skirt made out of faded yellow and blue cloth left her thighs exposed, but a combination leotard/bodice made of patchwork material and secured by a series of belts covered the rest. Her shoulders and arms were armored with iron pauldrons, sleeves, bracers and gloves, and a pair of goggles were strapped to her forehead. But the most obvious accessory, and the most intimidating, was the giant rifle/bazooka firearm now resting on her shoulder.

"Who the hell are… wait," Oogie muttered, squinting his eyeholes. "You're Finklestein's project, aren't ya? Thought he'd never have the guts to let his little darling out of the house for too long."

"My Father has nothing to do with this," replied Sally calmly. "Now I'm only going to say this once. Let Sandy Claws go."

The living sack stared for a moment, and then burst out laughing, prancing around the wheel. "Oh, sweetheart, you're as funny as old Fatsack here! But really," he added, his voice taking on a slight edge, "what could you possibly do to _make_ me?"

"Well, it is Christmas, the season of giving and all that," Sally said, opening a pocket sewn into her left leg, "and for someone as bad as you, I think some _special_ gifts are in order!" She withdrew two bottles from her pocket with one hand, and with the other, brought her weapon, Forge of Samheim, around to bear on Oogie's face. Both bottles were shoved into a hatch on its bottom that resembed an open mouth.

"_Brimstone!_" she snapped, and the tapered muzzle of the firearm spat out a fireball straight into Oogie's gormless face. The resulting explosion blinded him with a thick, cloying cloud of soot and smoke.

"Aaaarrgh!" the sack-man howled, stumbling off the roulette wheel with arms clasped over his eyes. "I can't see! I can't see!"

While Santa was staring in confusion, the rag doll warrior leapt over to where he was hanging. "Who are you?" he asked.

"My name is Sally, and I'm so sorry for all the trouble Jack has caused! Watch yourself!" She placed her weapon against the rope and fired, snapping it in two. The portly man dropped to the ground, rubbing his wrists.

"Well, we can discuss your skeleton friend later," he said. "Now what's our way out?"

Before Sally could answer, Oogie had brushed the soot out of his face, and was now glaring at her in fury. "You dare make a fool out of me?" he bellowed. "Then let's see how lucky you are now!" One burlap foot stomped on a hidden floor switch, and the hidden traps in the room whirled to life.

As a series of blades emerged from the centre of the roulette wheel and started swiping at the two of them, Sally shoved Santa off the wheel and ducked. The blades whistling over her head, she ejected the current bottles back into her pouch, pulled out two more and shoved them into the Forge of Samhein, before barking "_Potato Masher!_" and sending a black lump of steel shooting towards the pivot. With a loud bang, the explosive tore the shaft apart, sending the connected blades flying to one side.

"Ooh, not bad, dolly," sneered Oogie, "but let's see who runs out of tricks first!" He flicked another switch, and steel playing cards sprouted around the outside of the roulette ring, their pictures suddenly drawing their swords. Sally tried her best to avoid the blades, but her armor, despite providing enough protection, also weighed her down a fair bit. She winced as an edge skimmed the edge of her pauldron, drawing more than a few sparks.

Narrowly ducking a slash that almost drew stuffing, she spun for a nearby card, aiming her firearm at it. Another Potato Masher explosive blew a clean hole right through it, its mechanics grinding to a halt. She ducked into the space left by the blades, and started shooting at the remaining card, blowing off chunks and obliterating their workings piece by piece. One metal fragment even fell in just the right spot to jam the wheel to a stop.

Oogie grimaced at the sight, before letting out a bellow. Instantly, a vacuum-force wind blew to life, loose debris starting to get sucked into his now-cavernous mouth. Even with her armor's weight, Sally found her boots losing traction as the winds threatened to yank her off her feet. She scrabbled to keep a hold of the Forge of Samhein before it was pulled out of her hands.

"I guess you don't have much of a brain in that sack of yours," she sighed, letting the vacuum do the aiming for her. With another pull of the trigger, a Potato Masher was sent right into Oogie's mouth, and when it went off, the boogeyman was knocked flat on his back, smoke drifting from every hole in his body.

"Are you still so sure of your decision, Mr. Boogie?" asked Sally calmly, stepping to the other side of the wheel to aim point-blank in the monster's stunned face. She dropped a bottle from her weapon, now a fair bit emptier, stowed it in her pocket, and drew a new one.

But before she could slot it in, a voice that she recognized as the Halloweentown Mayor's suddenly echoed in through the open window. "_Terrible news, folks! The worst tragedy of our times! The King of Halloween has been blown to smithereens! Skeleton Jack is now a pile of dust!_"

Sally went as still as stone at the news. Her cloth eyes flickered in shock, and her weapon suddenly felt like a ton of lead in her hands. "No… no…It can't be…Jack…"

That, however, gave Oogie the opportunity he was waiting for. One flick of another switch later, and Sally found herself flying when the section of roulette wheel she was standing on shot up like a catapult, hurling her clear across the room. The Forge of Samhein was flung from her hands to clatter elsewhere on the floor, while she herself thudded painfully into the far wall and slumped insensate to the stone ground.

Oogie shook his head to clear it, before getting to his feet and stomping over to her, kicking the gun into a corner. Before long, he was looming over her, eyes blazing with malice (almost literally, given they were still smoking), and sack arms clutching a long coil of steel wire. "Oh, I think I'm pretty sure, dolly. After all, from what I just heard, it looks like you're completely outta luck."

A rattle came to his ears, causing him to turn around to see Santa trying to sneak out of an iron maiden towards the door. "And where do you think you're going, _Sandy?_" he asked menacingly. The old man gulped, trembling.

* * *

When Sally came to, she found herself securely restrained with steel wire that threatened to shred every part of her body that wasn't covered in metal and lying next to a similarly-trussed-up Santa Claus. Both of them were lying freely on a section of the roulette wheel, that was now tilted at an angle which threatened to tip them right off. Below their feet, the centre of the roulette wheel was opened to reveal a pit of bubbling gold liquid.

"Miss Sally, are you alright?" asked Santa worriedly.

"Yes sir," she answered, but still ashamed that she had lost her cool so easily. "I'm so sorry that I failed to save you."

"Well, at least you tried." The large man sighed as he gazed up at the ceiling. "But what on earth enticed that moronic skeleton to try and take over my job?"

"Jack's not bad!" she replied automatically, before blushing, "He's just… overexcited. He found your town in boredom, and he liked it so much, he wanted to try and put his own spin on it, to bring happiness to children." Her face fell slightly. "But you've seen our town… and what we consider to be happiness…"

"… which just doesn't suit my holiday," finished Santa, a look of comprehension now crossing his face. "Now I understand what he was going on about, giving me a vacation…" He grimaced and shook his head. "But why would he send me to this monstrosity?"

"Send you to Oogie Boogie? Jack would never do that!" replied Sally vehemently. "It was probably Lock, Shock and Barrel's idea; only they will have anything to do with him. We don't like him either; he's far too violent and hateful for us. Halloween is for scaring, not hurting."

"Fine, so it wasn't _entirely _his fault that we're stuck here…" Santa grunted in understanding. "If only the Pumpkin King would attend our annual holiday meetings, maybe he'd actually understand my holiday… but he hasn't been around long enough to know about them…"

He sighed. "And I just hope he gets the chance to, if we all get out of this mess."

Sally sniffled, remembering the news, but the mood was interrupted by a loud banging. The doors opened again and Oogie strode in, carrying a bottle of oil. "Sorry to keep you waiting, fellas; the old spin-table needed a tune up!" He quickly oiled the mechanism beneath the panel, before giving a nearby lever a tug. Both hostages gasped as the platform was ratcheted up a notch, in the perfect position to dump them both in the molten brew!

"That did the trick!" he crowed. "Now, what's that you said about luck, ragdoll?" the boogeyman cackled, leaning over them with his dice in his arm. With a rattle, he tossed them across the ground, where they rolled to a stop, a 2 and a 5 on their top-most faces. "Ooh yes! Lucky seven!"

Sally tried not to scream, while Santa was shaking with horror. "You monster!" he gasped. "You fiend!"

Oogie merely laughed cruelly. "My pleasure, _Sandy! _Looks like it's Oogie's turn to _boogie_ now!" Both hands grasped the lever, and started pulling. "One… two… three… four… five-six-seven! Aaaha-ha-ha-_ha!_" With every pull, the platform was raised up just a little more, the point of sliding off drawing closer and closer.

"This can't be happening!" the embodiment of Christmas was feeling his hope slowly drain away.

"Ashes to ashes and dust to dust!" said the malicious oddball of Halloweentown, hugging himself in anticipation. "Oh, I'm feeling weak… _with hunger!_ One more roll of the dice ought to do it!"

With a laugh, he chucked the dice out of sight and ran to see the result. Sally and Santa heard a rattle, then almost breathed a sigh of relief when they heard him bellow, "_What? Snake-eyes?_", but then they felt the ground shake as he hit it, and then a shout of triumph. "_Eleven!_"

Both of them felt the pit's heat wash over them as Oogie strutted back to the lever. "Looks like I've won the Jackpot! Bye-bye, _dollface and Sandman!_"

Sally couldn't help but shriek as the panel tipped up and up, feeling the metal start to slide under her. But suddenly, her vision was filled with a white face. The face of a spindly, grinning skeleton dropping down from the ceiling.

Before Sally could gasp at the sight, with unseen strength, Jack Skellington grasped both of them by their bonds, sliced through them with bony fingers, and hoisted them off the panel to solid ground off the roulette wheel, before dropping down onto the panel himself.

It was at this point that Oogie, not hearing a splash into the bubbling brew, realized something was wrong. Grasping the panel, he hauled it back down, only to find Jack right in his face. He gasped, stumbling back.

Jack glared right at him, eye sockets staring into eye sockets. "_Hello, Oogie,_" he said, calmly but grimly.

"J-_Jack_!" stuttered Oogie, taken aback by the sight of the un-deceased Pumpkin King. He staggered back as Jack stalked towards him. "But… they said you were dead! You must be… _double dead!_"

The boogeyman had backed onto one of the damaged roulette wheel sections and lured Jack onto another working one, before stomping on yet another hidden switch. Instantly, the playing cards sprung up again and the wheel started spinning again. Jack was almost thrown off balance by the sudden movement, and was also almost shredded by the flailing swords.

Oogie cackled from his safe place. "Well, come on, _bone man!_"

While Santa hid himself inside the iron maiden again, Sally watched Jack slide and dance around the blades like a snake, twisting his slender body in ways that would be impossible for a human. Seeing her crush coming deadly close to being shredded caused the ragdoll to break away and run to where her gun was lying.

When Oogie saw the blades were no detriment to Jack, he yanked another lever to retract the cards and cause a trio of cowboy-shaped slot machines with guns for handles to slide out of an alcove straight towards Jack. The skeleton, intent on reaching his target, didn't even notice the robotic minions approach him, their reels spinning.

Sally managed to reach her gun and reload it with a new combination of ingredients just in time. "Jack, get down! _Electroshock!_" The resulting ball of lightning struck all three gun-bots at once, causing them to spark and sputter to a halt. Jack turned to Sally, blinking in shock. "_Sally?_ What on earth are you doing with that?"

"Protecting you!" Sally called back. "Now go and get Oogie!" Another shot blew the bots' heads clear off, even as Jack nodded, turned back towards the boogeyman, and made for him even as he tried to scramble away.

As Sally removed the bottles and pulled out new ones from her pouch, Oogie made one last lunge, and both hands slammed down on two different switches. From two different directions, two spinning sawblades dropped down from the ceiling like pendulums of death, aiming to lop both interlopers' heads off. One shot from Sally's weapon deflected the attack against the Pumpkin King just in time, but doing so meant that Sally herself was unable to fully dodge herself.

There was a buzz of shearing metal, and Sally's left arm dropped to the ground while the rest of her was thrown to the side. A few potion bottles fell out of the ragdoll's arm stump to shatter on the floor.

Jack looked back to see what happened to Sally, which gave Oogie Boogie enough of an opening to catapult himself to a spinning mechanism suspended from the ceiling, which started rising out of reach. "So long, Jack!" he jeered, yanking another chain, which caused the roulette wheel's spinning to grow even more rapid, threatening to throw the Pumpkin King clear off.

"No, Jack!" Sally cried. Her detached arm wriggled up to her, still clutching the still-intact container. Sally helped it lock it in place, but when she looked around for the other reagent, she gasped as she saw said bottle broken on the ground. "Oh dear! I don't have any more of that reagent left, and I don't know what else will work!"

Santa hurried up to her, one hand rummaging in a pocket in his red coat. "Well then, Miss Sally, it's lucky I always carry a spare present, and I think it may be just what you need!" He withdrew a small, nondescript box wrapped in glittery red ribbon.

Sally accepted it with a word of thanks, quickly unwrapping the present to reveal a second bottle of the exact ingredient she was looking for.

Bracing himself with one hand, Jack's eyes blazed with anger at what happened to Sally. "_How dare you treat my friends so __**shamefully!**_" he snarled, grabbing something out of the air. Oogie gasped as a tearing sound made him realize what Jack had grabbed: a loose thread from his sack body. He grabbed at the thread with his other arm, desperately trying to keep it, and himself, from unravelling.

"Mr. Boogie!" an elderly shout made him turn his head, to where 'Sandy Claws' was standing next to the one-armed rag doll, helping her to support her weapon. "Consider this a coal substitute for making the top of my Naughty List!"

Sally's mouth was set in a hard line as she intoned the name of her final concoction: "_Trick or Treat!_"

The Forge of Samhein roared as a burst of energy erupted out the end, switching rapidly between a fiery-orange and a stark-white, a chilling evil cackle filling the air. Oogie tried to get out of the way, but found to his horror that Jack's spinning and keeping a hold on his thread had actually bound his arms to the axle. With absolutely no way to dodge, he screamed as a now-orange light filled his vision.

Oogie's burlap skin disintegrated like cigarette ash as the energy washed over him, and when it faded, all that was left of the boogeyman was a living pile of worms, bugs and insects, all wriggling and squirming frantically. "Now look what you've done!" he wailed, his body literally falling apart at the seams. "My bugs! My bugs… _my bugs…_"

The mass of bugs crumbled into the pot of boiling brew beneath it, and soon, Oogie's voice was nothing more than a high-pitched squeal coming from one large green earwig as it scuttled away… right until Santa squashed it with his boot.

"Forgive me, Mr. Claws," Jack said apologetically, walking up to him and holding out his familiar red and white hat. "I'm afraid I've made a terrible mess of your holiday…"

Santa took back his hat and scowled at the skeleton. "I have every mind to give you and your town the worst scolding in history, but…" his expression softened just a fraction, "with what your lady friend has told me, I think I understand. You were so excited at something new, that you jumped in without truly knowing what it means."

He stepped towards the now-confused Jack. "Christmas is about the spirit of giving, that is true. But more than that, it is about spreading joy, cheer, and happiness through those gifts, and sharing those feelings with your friends and family. And while I know that's what you intended, your gifts… they scare, they thrill, they make the people scream in fright."

He gestured at Oogie's damaged lair. "And that is not what Christmas is about. That is what _Halloween_ is about, and you know that better than anyone."

Jack drooped. "I do know… I just wanted a change, and I thought what was good for Halloween was good for Christmas... maybe I don't understand this holiday after all."

For the first time since this fiasco started, Santa gave a low chuckle. "Well, my job _is_ to spread the spirit of Christmas. I'd be happy to explain my holiday to you some other time."

Briskly, he straighened his hat. "But tonight, I have a job to do: undoing the mess that _you_ started in the first place."

As he shuffled off, Jack called, "I hope there's still time!"

"To fix Christmas? Of course there is!" Santa replied, feeling his magic return with the completion of his outfit. "I'm Santa Claus!" He made as if to jump into the air, but he paused, turned back, and glared sternly at Jack.

"And Jack, the next time you feel the urge to take over someone else's holiday, I'd listen to her!" He gestured to Sally. "She's the only one who has any sense around here!" And with that, he floated into the air and into a chute in the ceiling, using it as a chimney to finally escape.

Jack looked forlornly after the fellow holiday spirit, before Sally walked up to him, picking up her loose arm. "He'll fix things, Jack. He knows what to do."

The skeleton nodded, now fully aware of what she had been doing. "Where did you get all those potions? And what were you doing down here in the first place?"

Now in the presence of her crush, all of Sally's shyness came back in a rush. "W-well… I-I… I just… wanted to… to…" she mumbled, twisting a knob on her gun in agitation.

"To… help?" Jack suggested.

Mustering up the last bit of courage left from facing Oogie, she took a breath and blurted out, "… to protect you! I couldn't let you get hurt, and I thought that if I freed Sandy, he could undo your mistake, so I used one of Father's potions, but it turned me into this, and gave me all this knowledge about potions, then I came here to rescue him, but I got caught instead…"

"Sally." A bony hand rested on her shoulder, and the doll looked up into the eyes of the Pumpkin King, who was looking back at her with a new realization. "I can't believe I never realized that you would do all that for me… can you ever forgive me?"

"Oh Jack!" she gasped, dropping her gun and her arm to give him a one-armed embrace. "Of course I can! I can always forgive you! I love you!"

When the Forge of Samhein hit the ground muzzle-first, it went off with a bang, enveloping the both of them in a sudden cloud of smoke. When it cleared, Jack, blinking smoke out of his eyes, found himself holding a Sally that was back in her usual cloth dress.

"Oh my," the rag doll gasped, looking over herself. She glanced down at her detached arm, and found a small card clutched in her hand.

A low smile crossed Jack's face. "Now that's the Sally I remember." He suddenly looked rather sheepish. "But did I hear that last part right?"

Before Sally could do more than blush shyly, nod, and pick up her arm, a spotlight suddenly shone down on them, causing both of them to squint upwards. There above them were the familiar masked faces of Lock, Shock and Barrel and the grinning face of the Mayor.

"Jack! Jack!" the mayor called down. Around him, the three children burst into chatters of "Here he is! Alive! Just like we said!"

"Grab a hold, my boy!" the mayor laughed, glad that Halloweentown's greatest citizen was alive and well, as he dropped down a knotted rope.

Jack held Sally close, causing her to blush even harder, as he grabbed the rope with the other. As the four people above hauled the two of them up, the Pumpkin King and his new lady love let out a shared sigh, grateful that Jack had learned his lesson, Christmas would be okay, and everything had turned out right in the end.

* * *

Once again, I hope this chapter passes muster. I'll be honest, this was tricky to write! I might go through it again a few times if I feel it needs perking up.

Skirtzzz, thank you so much for waiting again! Once again, I'm so sorry I took so long, but you know how uni life is these days: all assignments and midterms and not much else!

And now, a bit of bad news. I'm entering the exam portion of my school term, so I won't have any spare time to do any writing until mid-December at best, so this is going on the back burner until everything's done with! Hope you enjoy what I got until then!

Find Sally's alchemist costume, created by the talented DeviantArtist Skirtzzz here (scrap all the spaces)!: **skirtzzz . deviantart dotcom / Alchemist - Sally - 291166661**

Please Review and Critique; more support will inspire me to work faster, and I'd really, _really_ like to know someone's reading this! But please, no flaming!

**Next Chapter: The Wildwoman of Wisdom**


	5. The Wildwoman of Wisdom

**Princess Fantasy D X-2**

**A/N: **I have never been inspired enough to write stories about any fanart before, until I saw the work of deviantart artist Skirtzzz, specifically her Final Fantasy Disney Dressphere series. With her blessing, this will be the first of a series of final scene rewrites, using the powers of the dresspheres to possibly change the script, or failing that, make the scene worthy of a Final Fantasy series. Replicating the feel for such an incredible franchise will be a challenge, but I swear I'll do my best!

If you haven't seen any of the movies or their endings, this could be a little spoilerific, but if you have or don't mind, hang on for the ride!

**Disclaimer**: See Chapter 1.

* * *

**The Wildwoman of Wisdom**

The steel brig of the steamship was dark, dank, and none too welcoming, and the only light present was from between the steel grate that kept them all in. Rusty chains swung from the ceiling, and hisses came from the steel pipes that lined the walls behind numerous boxes and barrels that were lashed to the wall.

But right now, all Jane Porter, her father, Archimedes Q. Porter, and the captain and crew of the steamship could do was listen in despair to the commotion above deck. Jane's heart wrenched with remorse when she heard Tarzan's agonized yell of outright betrayal.

"Come on, come on! Daylight's fading!" That remorse quickly changed to abject fury when she heard the poisonous words of their ex-companion, the hunter John Clayton, drift down to them from above. His whole purpose of this trip was to find the gorilla band, hunt them down, and sell them to God-knows-who for God-knows-what. Jane almost broke down in frustration at the thought of being so helpless to stop him, especially for Tarzan's family's sake.

"Crowe? Crowe! Where are you, for the Queen's sake; we've got cages to load!" Clayton sounded incredibly frustrated.

"_huff…_ sorry guv'ner, just… _pant_… bringing along some trinkets I found while… _wheeze_… wandering through the jungle yesterday!" a rather ragged voice spoke up. "Rather nice ones too… glad you took so long… me and the boys had a cracking good time in there…"

"You're just lucky you dolts didn't run into me on your little gander!" Clayton snapped. "Just throw that junk into the brig and get over here before I throw you overboard! And get him in there already! Hurry up!"

"Alrigh', alrigh', no need to get your knickers in a twist…" A dragging sound echoed through the brig as something was dragged along the deck. The grating overhead was hauled open and a steel ladder lowered to the floor below, but before anyone could make a move for it, someone was kicked down.

A familiar shape in a navy coat, white shirt, black trousers, and suspenders tumbled down the ladder, limbs banging painfully against the rungs. Somehow, Tarzan managed to twist in mid-air to land without breaking anything, but before he could recover and leap for the ladder, a bulging burlap sack, tied at the neck, was kicked down to land painfully on top of him, pinning him to the ground.

"Oh, sorry about that, monkey boy!" the same voice called down, sounding less ragged and more mocking. "We'll be back with company soon, so just take care of that till I get back, 'kay?" With a cackle, the ladder was hauled up and the grate firmly shut.

Tarzan shoved the sack off him in a rage, tore off his black shoes, bounded off the wall, and latched onto the grate, yanking and grunting in desperation. But despite his best efforts, the grate did not budge an inch. The clanking of chain that reached his ears, followed by the splash of a cage-laden skiff landing in the ocean, was almost too painful to hear.

* * *

Jane didn't know whether it was adrenaline, rage, or his primitive upbringing that was responsible, but Tarzan had been battering away at the brig's walls and ceiling for 20 minutes straight with nothing at all to show for it. His coat and waistcoat had long since been discarded, his socks were all but tatters, and his shirt was coming apart at the seams. Jane could see the wildman in him growing more and more frenzied with every passing moment.

"Tarzan, it's no use! Don't!" she cried, worried that he would literally break himself apart in his efforts to escape.

The wildman stumbled to a halt in the middle of the floor, looking around in near-bestial panic, as if he was already in a cage. Jane moved to approach him, but he spun towards her with a growl, causing her to jump back in fright. She saw, for a brief moment, the animalistic terror and fury in his eyes before it was replaced with more human-like despair and frustration. "Clayton…" he growled.

"Yes, Clayton," Jane spat his name out bitterly. "Clayton betrayed us all." She knelt down before him. "I'm so sorry, Tarzan… if we hadn't come here on this ridiculous excursion…"

"No, I did this," replied Tarzan, clenching his fists. "I betrayed my family. Kerchak was right." He slumped to the floor. "I never belonged with them." Jane could only bite her lip, not knowing just what to say to that.

"Oh, those magnificent creatures, shivering in cages," muttered Professor Porter, getting to his feet and glaring up at the deck. He pounded the metal wall with one fist and muttered bitterly, "What is this world coming to – _whoa!_"

His words were cut off as the whole ship suddenly listed to the the side, causing everyone to take a tumble towards the wall he just hit. When everything seemed to calm down, the Professor looked up in amazement, before looking at his arms. "Oh, by Jove, don't know my own strength…" he chuckled in bewilderment.

A moment later, a massive thump was heard from above deck, and the steamship tilted back the other way as it balanced out, tipping them back towards the other wall. Jane bumped violently against Tarzan's chest, before the breath was forced out of her lungs as the sack thrown in by the crewmember thudded against her chest, its contents… clacking?

"What was that?" she breathed, staring up at the deck.

Above them, the sounds of men yelling, shouting and screaming rang out from above them, followed by something none of them expected to hear: an elephant's trumpet. A moment later, the grate buckled and shattered apart as the massive bulk of said pachyderm crashed its way through.

Professor Porter dazedly sat up, unaware of the 5-ton-elephant foot hanging over his head. "Why, that sounded just like an elephant!"

"Tantor!" exclaimed Tarzan at the sight of his red-skinned elephant friend. The massive beast gave another trumpet and offered him its trunk.

Jane watched as Tarzan was hauled out of the brig by his friend, before a clatter made her turn around. The sack that had crashed into her had ripped open and spilled its contents over the metal floor, a number of strange, angular, artifact fragments that looked to be crafted out of metal and wood with odd glyphs written on them in black pigment.

One in particular caught Jane's eye: an oblong piece of metal-bordered wood that seemed less shattered and more deliberately crafted. As Jane picked it up to look at more closely, Tarzan called down from the deck, "Jane, Tantor will help get you all out. I'm going to save my family!"

"Tarzan, wait! You can't take on all of them by yourself!" Jane shouted back, but Tarzan was already gone from her view, and a moment later, a splash showed exactly where he went.

"Tarzan! Come back!" The worried Jane leapt to her feet and ran for the opening, where her father was being lifted out by Tantor's long trunk. As she ran, her thoughts suffused of catching up to Tarzan to offer whatever help she could spare, she didn't notice a ray of sunlight shining through the hatch reflect off the shiny black pigment… and shine right into her eyes.

* * *

Unbeknownst to Jane, and wouldn't be found out until several months later, the artifact the swabbie had found on his jungle jaunt and had found her way into her possession had its origins in the lost jungle city of Opar. Crowe had unwittingly stumbled across a lookout post that hadn't been used in over a hundred years, and had just scooped up all the baubles he could find. But the one that Jane was holding now was not just any ordinary bauble.

Opar's culture, although supposedly mirroring its ancestral civilization of Atlantis, was aimed towards developing qualities in their men and women that they prized: strength in men, and beauty in women. Unfortunately, the practices they used to achieve this included excessive inbreeding, selective culling of offspring, and cross-breeding with the jungle animals.

The latter practice, in fact, was exactly what the tablet Jane was holding now was used for. In order to entice said animals to lie with their women, the Opar high priestesses used their resources to develop a spell that would enable their people to temporarily take on the qualities of said animals, including the ability to speak their language. Said spell was embedded via their arcane language into small artifacts, which could be activated by reflecting the light off of said artifact and into the user's eyes, all while thinking of the reason one wished to use this power.

But while the people of Opar had done it with the express purpose of making their forebears strong, giving them the ability to communicate and the limited strength to survive the ordeal they had in mind, Jane Porter had called upon the spell with the desire to protect the one she cared for and the ones that _he_ cared for… leading to an effect that no-one had seen since the very first ruler of Opar had used the spell for the first time in history.

* * *

As Professor Porter was lifted out of the brig by Tantor's trunk, where the rest of the crew was waiting, a sudden eruption of light and color emanating from the depths of the ship practically startled the both of them out of their wits. The Professor clung desperately to the elephant's trunk as the elephant in question reared up in shock, nearly deafening him with its trumpeting.

"Thunderation!" Archimedes exclaimed, staring at the lightshow coming from beneath him. "What in the Queen's name was that?!"

His answer came a moment later, when the lights somehow traced out a circle overlaying the hatch, inlaid with an archaic language the Professor had never seen before. A moment later, a yellowish blur suddenly leapt out of the brig, through the circle, and landed somewhat ungainly on the deck. When Archimedes turned to look at it, his eyes nearly fell out of his head with disbelief.

"_J… J… Ja… Jan… Janey?!_" he spluttered, nearly choking on his moustache.

Looking back at him, surprise written all over her own face, was his own daughter, her hair loose and blowing in the sea wind, but now dressed in an outfit he couldn't even imagine being _designed_. It was somewhat similar to the puffy yellow dress she – admittedly unwisely – wore the first time she entered the jungle, but at the same time worlds apart.

The yellow blouse she wore was now shoulderless, merely covering her torso together with a purple neckerchief and white collar, but scandalously exposing the curve of her cleavage with a hollow circle cut around her sternum. Her arms were covered with yellow sleeves that reached the top of her biceps, and went all the way to the prim white gloves she now wore. Perhaps more revealing was her lace-hemmed skirt, which now exposed her stomach as it rode low on her hips. Fastened on her right, it gracefully exposed her right leg while trailing down to the floor on her left, both displaying the odd script-like pattern embroidered along its length, and revealing her knee-length travelling boots. But most astonishing of all was the weapon she now carried: an angular, wooden, metal-plated contraption, scripted in black ink along its sides and its protrusions wrapped in yellow fabric.

"Oh my word," murmured Jane, obviously disoriented by the experience. "What just happened? All I saw was a flash of light and… Daddy?" She caught sight of her father's gobsmacked expression. "What are you looking at me like that for? What… why is it suddenly so drafty?"

Swinging from Tantor's trunk, Archimedes could only manage a point at her outfit. When Jane looked down, her face went scarlet and she let out three squeaks, one at her skirt, one at the hole in her blouse, and one at the object she was carrying. "Wha-where'd this come from? How'd I come up wearing th-this? I… I look like some kind of… of… !"

As she fumbled with the device in her self-induced tizzy, her mind scrabbling to _understand_, her finger accidentally tightened on what felt like a trigger. Instantly, the artifact's front end flared with violet and gold light, a large ring inlaid with more archaic symbols materializing in mid-air. A moment later, another ring of purplish energy pulsed out of the first one, to hit the side of the stunned elephant and meld into its body.

"Aaaah! I've been cursed! I've been cursed!" Tantor yelled, almost dropping the Professor in his own panic. "Terk, save me! Save me from this evil spell this woman put on me! What did you do to me?" He almost broke down sobbing at that last word, as a gorilla that had somehow gotten onto the boat chattered at him agitatedly.

"What I did? I don't even know how I got…" Jane's equally-hysterical tirade slowly trailed off when she realized that she had just understood an _elephant_. She stared at the beast in disbelief. "Di… did you just _speak_?"

Both elephant and gorilla stopped and stared right back at her. Tantor spoke up, his voice sounding rather shaky. "How… how did…" He put the Professor down and stepped forward slowly. "You… you can speak elephant? I thought only Tarzan could speak elephant!"

The gorilla said something, but to her it just sounded like more hoots and screeches. "I don't know how she can speak elephant, Terk; maybe Tarzan taught her?" Tantor replied.

"I'm not speaking elephant, I'm speaking normally!" Jane said surprisedly. She turned to her father, but he was staring at her just as astonishedly as the elephant.

"J… Jane, how are you making such convincing elephant noises? It… it almost seems like you understand it!"

"What are you talking about, Daddy? I'm talking just like I always am!"

This time, the Professor blinked at her words. "Well, _now_ you are, but a moment ago, you sounded just like that elephant over there! …did you understand what it said?"

Jane nodded slowly, before turning back to the two animals who now looked completely confused at the turn of events. She looked between all of them a few times, before her gaze drifted down to the gun in her hand – and did a double take when she realized the script on it was now as clear to her as English.

"_Primal Heart – the link between man and beast. With a thought to know, learn their traits, and be granted their might,_" she read, before it dawned on her. Somehow, this device had given her the ability to speak the language of whatever animal she aimed at. It could be the reason she could now understand the elephant, but not the gorilla… unless… _a thought to know_…

With the desire to learn firmly fixed in her mind, she aimed the gun at the other gorilla. Instantly, it balked and tried to back away, screeching, but another ring of energy struck it dead-on. Almost instantly, its cries turned into legible words, spoken in a hysterical, boyish, but distinctly _female_ tone, "Hey, I didn't agree to get blasted, lady! Ya hear me? I don't care what magic you got in that thing, I'm not doin' it! Got it? I'm not doin' it!"

Despite her confusion, Jane couldn't help but smile at the gorilla's histrionics. "I believe it's a bit late for that," she said calmly.

The gorilla kept her shrieking up until Tantor swatted her on the back with his trunk. "Terk, I thought I was supposed to be the dramatic one," he commented.

Professor Porter ambled over, looking at the strange device. "Fascinating… I've never seen this script before in all my studies of African civilizations; it must have come from a society not seen for centuries! I wonder if Tarzan would know about it?"

The mention of Tarzan instantly jolted Jane back to the situation. "Tarzan! We have to go save him!" Quickly, she rushed up to Tantor, grabbing onto his trunk. "Tantor, we don't have time to joke around! Tarzan needs us!"

"Oh! Oh, right!" Instantly, Tantor hoisted both Jane and Terk onto his back. "Hang on tight, Miss Jane!" With a trumpet that just served as a battle cry, the pachyderm charged for the edge of the ship.

"I say… I say! Wait for me!" As Tantor thundered past, the Professor leapt and just caught hold of his tail. "Captain, I leave this to you! Take care of the ship until we get baaaaaaack!" His words aimed at the steamship's crew trailed off in a yell as they left the side of the boat and plunged into the ocean.

As Tantor began to swim for the shore, plucking the damp Professor from his tail and putting him on his back, Terk glanced at Jane, who was now poring over her weapon. "So lady, ya sure ya can figure out that little doohickey in time to help Tarzan?"

"I can figure it out," Jane said, closely examining the now-comprehensible script within the floating ring. "I've always been a quick study."

* * *

The sun was setting over the horizon as a blur rushed through the trees. Shirt, suspenders and trousers were scattered across the jungle floor as Tarzan swung, slid and leapt his way through the jungle canopy, all his attention focused on one goal: stopping Clayton and protecting his family. As he threw himself through the wilderness that was his home, many of the animals, woken from their slumber by his actions, rose to stare after him and wonder what was going on.

As such, they did not notice the purple rings and glowing blue balls of light that struck one creature of every species mere moments later, until Tantor stormed past them carrying Terk and two humans on his back. The female was standing on his back, waving a strange weapon and calling out in _their_ _own languages_. "The gorillas are threatened by men! Invaders come to capture them! Tarzan seeks to stop him! Please aid him! Help save his family!"

The beasts did not know how the female was speaking their languages, but to abandon Tarzan, a figure that all jungle inhabitants knew and at least respected, if not outright liked, in his time of need would be galling to them. One by one, every creature that Tarzan had passed, elephants, rhinos, hippos and baboons, rose from slumber and lumbered after them.

As the pack caught up with Tantor, trampling saplings and plants under their feet, Tarzan spared a look back to see the veritafiable army following him. He only spared a nod before looking back at the flares now glowing through the trees.

Tarzan's signature yell echoed through the trees as he swung into the clearing, the stampede bursting into view a moment later. The stunned Clayton, only moments from shooting the netted Kerchak, got a faceful of bare feet and was knocked off his own, sprawling a good distance away.

With a yell of "CHAAARGE!" from the Professor, mayhem ensued as the animals rampaged among the pirates, scattering them in all directions. The men tried to bring their whips, pikes and firearms to bear, but the beasts did not give them the opportunity. Between swinging trunks, stomping hooves, and thrashing heads bearing massive horns, teeth and tusks, the three species of pachyderm sent the men desperately running for cover.

As Terk chased the screaming men into their own cages, Jane, balancing perfectly on Tantor's back with inhuman dexterity, aimed the Primal Heart at more targets. Balls of gold energy erupted from the ring to knock weapons from hands or blow enemies flat on their backs. Jane whipped back and forth, eyes searching the battleground and routing as many pirates as she could, but try as she might, she couldn't find Clayton, who had seemingly disappeared after Tarzan had struck him.

Amidst all the melee, watching Tarzan cut the nets apart, Jane's ears pricked up as she thought shc heard Clayton barking orders. When she spun towards the sound, the hunter was nowhere to be seen, but what she did see were two men hauling a cage away towards the shore, with a gorilla locked inside that she remembered as being exceptionally close to Tarzan.

Narrowing her eyes in determination, she leapt off Tantor, grasped a nearby vine, and swung towards them just as Tarzan had shown her all those days ago. In mid-swing, she aimed at them with her weapon and snapped, "_Kingdom Clobber!_" A glittering cloud of dust blew out of the muzzle to form the shape of a gorilla beating its chest, moments before she swung right through it. The man in front barely had time to react before an impact enhanced to the level of a raging primate flattened him, knocking the cage over.

Jane released the vine to land neatly on her feet, right in front of the other burly sailor now meandering for her. As he got closer, his eyes fell on the weapon he was carrying, before narrowing in suspicion. "Hey, that looks like the trinket I found in the jungle!" he said in a voice Jane remembered as Crowe's. "That's my stuff; hand it over now!" Meaty fists raised, he picked up the pace, before a snarling from behind Jane froze him in his tracks.

Jane did a quick glance behind her to find the troop of baboons that had given her so much trouble on her first real jungle foray now growling in the trees at the man. "Really now?" she said smugly, turning back to Crowe, who was now trembling fearfully. "I think they might disagree." The knowledge of the baboon language still fresh in her mind, the lady let out what sounded like an apelike shriek to the swabbie, but which translated perfectly to the baboons as a sharp, "_Get him!_"

The troop howled and swarmed the man, who let out a howl of his own as he desperately raced away from the primates. Now on the opposite end of the attack, Jane let out a small smile, which changed to a giggle as a familiar baby baboon dropped onto her shoulder, wearing a shoe on its head and holding a familiar yellow parasol.

"Hi!" he squeaked before giving her a kiss on her cheek.

"Hello, you little rascal!" Jane chuckled before tapping her parasol. "Could I have that back, please?"

"Okay! I'm done with it it now! It was a fun toy!" the baboon chattered, dropping the parasol before scampering after his troop. Jane laughed, before a voice reached her ears.

The gorilla – Jane remembered Tarzan calling her Kala – was waving one arm weakly through the bars, crying, "Help… help me please…" in a scared tone.

Jane quickly ran over to her. "Don't worry, dear, I'm going to have you out of this in a second," she said, causing Kala to gasp softly at her speaking their language. After a few tugs showed that the cages were too strong for gorilla strength, Jane decided to try something stronger. "Kala, crouch down and don't move. This could get ugly."

The first downed man groaned groggily as he rose up, to see the yellow-clad woman back up a few paces, before aiming her weapon. As he pulled out a crowbar and tried to approach her from behind, she said, "_Pachyderm Crush!_" in a sharp tone and pulled the trigger. Another cloud of glittering mist blew out of the gun's muzzle and formed the shape of a rearing silver elephant, before she stomped through it, planted one foot on a corner bar, gripped the cage door with her free hand like an elephant's trunk, and with a shout of exertion that sounded like the beast's trumpeting call, sharply tore the door clean off its rails and threw it aside.

The dumbfounded bilge-rat stared at the flying cage door right up to the point where it came down and flattened him again.

Jane let out an exhausted breath from the effort, before reaching an arm in and helping the gorilla out of the cage. As both females let out a sigh of relief, a gunshot split the air like a thunderclap, causing them to look around in shock.

Tarzan crouched beneath a pair of torn nets, clutching a bleeding shoulder as a pair of freed gorillas scampered away in fright. A short distance away from him, Clayton was loading a pair of fresh cartridges and snapping his hunting rifle closed. A short distance away from _him_, the massive Kerchak saw the incident, and all at once he went ballistic, galloping for the hunter on all four knuckles with a terrifying roar.

Things slowed down for Jane at that moment. She saw Clayton turning towards the monstrous gorilla, saw his eyes widen in panic, saw him raising the gun dead-center, felt her own arms rise in response…

Clayton felt a sudden jolt knock his aim just a tick off to one side, causing the two bullets to blow through the gorilla's right shoulder instead of its heart, but the pain was still enough to cause the gorilla leader to collapse to the ground in a heap. The hunter whirled around to see Jane aiming some strange device at him that presumably knocked his aim off, and he dug in his ammo bag for more bullets, but an anguished yell from Tarzan brought him back around to see the wildman charging straight for him.

Quickly, Clayton pulled out a _handful_ of bullets, dextrously reloaded his rifle, and fired a shot that stopped Tarzan in his tracks. More bullets split the earth and wood beneath him as Tarzan was chased up into the trees by the gunfire. Clayton laughed at his prey's actions. "Hiding, are we?" he yelled after him.

"_Iron Horn!_" another yell caught his attention, and he turned again, this time to see Jane running through a dissolving cloud of mist and ram into him literally like a charging rhinoceros. Clayton was knocked clear back into the trees as Jane advanced on him, the Primal Heart aimed directly at his face.

"Enough is enough, Clayton!" she shouted. "Surrender now and I won't think of leaving you with more than a hole in you!"

Clayton groaned, thankful at least that he landed in enough foliage to prevent any broken ribs, "Oh, my dear Janey," he chuckled, stepping out of the bushes and raising one arm, "You should know better than to play around with something that could get you _hurt!_" With that last word, a bullwhip was suddenly pulled out from behind his back and snapped around Jane's ankle, and a sudden tug sent her sprawling on her back.

With a practiced air, Clayton kicked her weapon away and bound her securely with the whiplash. "Now what did I tell you?"

"Clayton…" Jane looked mad enough to spit fire. "You rotten-"

"Quiet!" Clayton barked, smashing her across the jaw with his rifle. "I'll deal with you later!" He slung his gun across his back, before starting to rappel up the tree with a vine, shouting into the trees. "I could use a challenge, jungle boy, because after I get rid of you, rounding up your little ape family will be all too _easy!_"

Jane struggled with her bonds for a moment before her father caught sight of her. "Oh my word! Jane!" Sliding down Tantor's trunk, his old fingers fumbled with the knots for a moment, before the elephant helpfully brought over a discarded spear to use. Accepting it, Archimedes wasted no time in cutting his daughter free.

Rubbing her wrist, Jane quickly retrieved her weapon. "Clayton's gone after Tarzan up in the treetops! I have to help him!"

"What?! Janey, you can't!" exclaimed the Professor. "It's Tarzan's home turf up there; he can handle himself!"

"But he's also wounded, and Clayton's going to stop at nothing until he kills him!" Jane answered, aiming her weapon up into the trees, "and there certainly _is_ something I can do to help!" When the Professor tried to argue, she pointed to the limp form of Kerchak. "You need to do something to save him, or he's not going to make it through the night!"

"How… how am I supposed to save him? All my equipment, my supplies are back on the boat!"

"Then get him to the beach and retrieve them from the ship! I don't know, Daddy, just do something!" Turning to Tantor, she shouted to him, "Tantor, get Kerchak to the beach and get my father on the boat! It's the only way to save him!" With that, she shouted, "_Kingdom Clobber!_" once again, and dove through the ape-shaped cloud to start leaping up the trees towards the canopy like the ape she was imitating.

Archimedes could only blink up at his headstrong daughter before Tantor lifted him onto his back once again. "Sorry, mister. Alright, you heard the woman, guys, get him to the shore!" Nodding, two more elephants picked up the wounded Kerchak, hoisted him onto a hippo's back, before the odd procession started lumbering towards the beach.

* * *

Jane hooked her legs around a branch before swinging herself upright and continuing her procession upwards. Needing both hands free and her legs a decent amount of movement, she had tied the trailing section of her skirt around her waist and secured the Primal Heart into a fashioned pocket at her side, able to be retrieved at a moment's notice. Not having the prehensile feet of an ape, but the strength and agility of one, she had managed to make her way up into the treetops easily enough.

When the sound of struggling reached her ears, she flipped onto a branch to assess the situation, in time to see Clayton's rifle fall from the treetops and lodge into a tangle of branches a short distance from where she was. Looking up, she could see the forms of Tarzan and Clayton struggling on top of a wide branch. However, the shadows caused by the branches meant she couldn't see who was who.

But before she could do anything to figure it out, one figure kicked the other off the branch, to send him bouncing off bough after bough until he landed right next to her on the same bough. Jane gasped when what available moonlight revealed his identity as Clayton. He turned around towards that gasp to see her staring at him, and he blinked in surprise, wondering how she had managed to escape.

Jane's eyes only momentarily flickered to the rifle and back, but that was enough for Clayton to realize what was there, and for his eyes to betray that he knew. Reflexively, she lunged for the gun, but his meaty hand closed over her wrist, and with a snarl, callously hurled her back and clear off the branch.

Jane still felt the gorilla's instincts and kicked her right leg out involuntarily, which luckily caught on a nearby vine and stopped her descent. Feeling her enhanced muscles strain with the tension, she managed to twist her body like an acrobat, grab hold of the vine with one arm and pull her gun with the other. Clayton almost had his hands on his rifle, when a bolt of gold light dislodged it and sent it flipping end over end into the air…

…where the dexterous feet of Tarzan snatched it and flipped it into his hands. The jungle man landed neatly on the bough as well, aiming the gun straight into Clayton's face.

Clayton stared in shock at the gun muzzle pointing at him, before his face curled into a smug smile. "Go ahead, shoot me," he said simply, the dare hanging in the air.

Jane adjusted her grip, untangled her foot and scaled the vine to see the sudden indecision on Tarzan's face, as he started to wonder whether revenge for what he did to Kerchak would be right. Clayton chuckled.

"Be a man," he added with a smirk. Jane sucked in a breath; even she could tell what Clayton was trying to do: daring Tarzan to prove him right and cause him to make a fatal mistake.

"Tarzan, no!" she shouted. Tarzan's expression froze, but didn't take his eyes off Clayton. "Killing him will not prove anything! Clayton wants you to be a man like him: boorish, greedy and ambitious, willing to throw away everything to get what he wants! Don't be that man; don't throw away your morals for revenge!"

"Oh, hush now, Jane," sneered Clayton, "You know as well as I do what this boy really wants: an identity! You know _what_ you are now, Tarzan, a man, so show me _who_ you are: a wild man, or a _real_ man?"

That last statement made Tarzan's face contort in fury and he shoved the gun under Clayton's chin, cutting off anything else he had to say. But to Jane's horror, the next words out of Tarzan's mouth were, "You're right, Clayton. I am a man."

A gunshot split the silence. Clayton flinched and Jane screamed… and then they both stared.

The gun hadn't made the gunshot – _Tarzan_ had. Defiance glowing in his eyes, Tarzan raised Clayton's gun over his head as he finished his statement.

"_But not a man like you!_"

With one mighty blow, he swung the gun down and shattered it against the branch, the pieces falling out of sight to the floor below. Clayton grasped for the fragments but it was too late.

Tarzan turned to where Jane was still hanging from the vine and nodded calmly to her. Jane returned a smile and let out a breath of relief, but gasped when she saw Clayton suddenly yank out a machete and take a slash at Tarzan. The loss of his crew, his way out, and now the only way he could feasibly regain them seemed to have sent him off the deep end.

Tarzan had made it to a vine but Clayton immediately severed it, sending him plummeting lower into the canopy. Jane didn't know what drove her to do it, but she let out a simian screech and leapt at Clayton, the Kingdom Clobber attack she had been saving now released onto the hunter, slamming him square in the ribs and knocking both of them off the branch.

The two of them plummeted through the vines, both doing their level best to keep their opponent's weapons away from themselves. However, despite Clayton's injuries, with her gorilla attributes now vanished due to her using up her attack, Jane was on the losing end of the fight as she stared into the maddened eyes of John Clayton, whose blade was swinging dangerously close to her flesh.

Suddenly, their fall abruptly came to an end as a vine suddenly snagged Clayton's knife arm, the sudden stop tearing both their grips loose. Jane somersaulted uncontrollably through the vines, her fall only stopping when her limbs got entangled as well. Gasping from the pain, she looked up to see Clayton struggling to reach Tarzan, who was swinging down towards her.

As he started to pull her free, managing to get a handhold and free his arm, Clayton dropped towards them, chopping away at the vines in an attempt to dislodge the both of them. One lucky chop almost cut her down if not for Tarzan catching hold of her, wincing at the damage to his arm. She watched Clayton draw closer and closer, baring his teeth in a grin or a snarl. "You think I'm just going to let a pay day like this just swing away from me?' he shouted furiously. 'Africa was made for _me_!"

His ranting suddenly gave Jane an idea. Quickly, she outlined it to Tarzan, who nodded. As he clambered away through the vines, she muttered, "_Feral Frenzy,_" and darted into the shadows of the trees like the baboon she was emulating.

Clayton bared his teeth at seeing Tarzan scramble out of his reach, and he violently clawed his way after him, tearing through vines when they obstructed his path as he went lower and lower into the foliage. It was by sheer dumb luck that he didn't cut himself down as he slowly but surely caught up.

Finally he got close enough to see his quarry trying to untangle _himself_ from where he had carelessly got himself stuck. Eyes widened in victory met eyes widened in fear. "Well now, I guess you were wrong about being a man," he said gleefully. "After all, only an animal would be stupid enough to get stuck!" With triumph so close, he swung his machete forward…

… only for Tarzan to somehow slip out of the way and let the blade bite into a nearby tree trunk. Swiftly, the jungle man lashed out with a kick and knocked the blade from his grip, sending it hurtling to the understory below. "But only a man like you would be greedy enough to be tricked!" he countered, before swinging away, vines trailing from his body like a cloak. Clayton made to go after him, but suddenly realized that in his haste to get to Tarzan, he had literally made it to the end of his vine, and there were no other handholds in sight that a human could reach, aside from the vine tip he was now clutching to.

As he looked around frantically, a rustling made him look up, to find Jane sitting calmly on a branch aiming the Primal Heart not at him, but at the mass of vines out of reach over his head. "You know what they say about weaknesses, Mr. Hunter. Give someone enough vine, and eventually he'll hang himself," she said, before snapping out her last command.

"_Deforester!_"

The resulting ball of green light shot up into the canopy and exploded in a ball of glowing script. Every vine, branch and bough within a 5 foot radius was vaporized, sending a substantial mass of severed plant matter plunging to the jungle floor, a screaming Clayton falling directly beneath them. There was a loud crack as the hunter landed directly on a thick root spine-first, right before the vegetation all but buried him.

Tarzan landed on the bough next to Jane, and the two of them stared down at the mass of verdure lying on the ground, the head of a clearly-unconscious John Clayton just poking out from under it all. Jane let out a breath to rest her head on his shoulder, completely drained by the ordeal. With a breath, she squeezed her weapon, only wanting to _rest_.

The Primal Heart responded, disappearing in a shower of sparkles that spread out into a script-covered circle of light around them. Jane and Tarzan looked around in surprise as the circle shimmered, folded in around itself to wrap around Jane, before vanishing into thin air, leaving Jane back in her old blouse and skirt and the familiar wooden card in her hand.

* * *

It was with a lot of trepidation that the tree-swinging couple meandered back to the shore on the back of a rhino, a trussed-up, unconscious, and utterly disabled Clayton slung behind them. Tarzan in particular was of a particularly heavy heart, the regret of never apologizing to his leader for what he had done.

Therefore, he was suitably surprised to find the gorilla band leader leaning against a tree on the beach, right arm bound up in dozens of bloodstained clothes used as makeshift bandages, and although drowsy, was still conscious. Beside him, Kala was nuzzling against him lovingly while a number of anxious animals were looking on, Terk, Tantor and the entire band of gorillas among them, and a thorougly exhausted Professor Porter packing up a black doctor's bag.

"Kerchak!" Tarzan exclaimed, jumping off the rhino to hurry to him. "You're okay!"

A tap from Professor Porter interrupted him. "Mostly, my dear boy. I did manage to stop the bleeding, but I'm afraid he can never use his arm again."

Tarzan's expression immediately turned dismayed. "But… but if he is hurt, how is he supposed to protect the gorillas? They need someone to protect them!" The Professor had no answer.

"Tarzan…" Kerchak's tired rumble caught his attention, and Tarzan immediately turned back to his leader.

"Kerchak," the jungle man lowered his head, "forgive me."

"No," the massive gorilla shook his head. "Forgive me, for not understanding… that you have always been… one of us." His gaze travelled to Professor Porter. "And for not seeing that… humans are all monsters. I owe this one my life. But if I understand him correctly… I can no longer protect our family. Is that what he said?"

At Tarzan's sad nod, Kerchak let out a sorrowful sigh. "I see. Then that duty will fall to you."

That statement took Tarzan completely off guard. "What? But…"

"My years are catching up to me. It is time I stepped down as the band leader and took my place among the elders," said Kerchak solemnly. "Do not worry, I will still be here to help you, but I can no longer be a guardian, only an advisor." A giant hand was placed on the stunned man's shoulder. "Lead us well… my son."

It was only then that the tears finally came, as the moment that Tarzan had been wanting for all his life finally became reality: the acceptance and respect of his gorilla father. He rushed forward and hugged Kerchak, who returned it with his one arm while smiling softly, knowing his family would be in good hands. Kala wrapped both her arms around them, beaming like the dawning sun that her two favorite males had finally reconciled.

A moment later, Kerchak looked up at the staring Porters. "Now, regarding your other family, Tarzan, would you help me speak?"

* * *

The mustachioed Captain of the steamship puffed as he rowed back to shore, wishing that there were more men on his crew. If all of them weren't needed to watch over the caged pirates, he wouldn't be rowing the boat himself.

As he approached the shore, a loud gasp made him turn around, to see Miss Jane hugging Tarzan like she was trying to squeeze the life out of him. If he looked closely, the Captain could swear that all the animals on the beach were beaming.

When the rowboat finally beached itself, the Captain turned to Professor Porter, who was ushering the rhino carrying the immobilized John Clayton on its back towards him. "Professor Porter, are you and your daughter ready to leave?"

"Actually, Captain, there's been a change of plans," answered the Professor. "The only one you need to take back is Clayton; my daughter and I have decided to stay here."

The Captain couldn't believe his ears. "Are… are you sure? Live? In the jungle? Wh… what am I supposed to say to your sponsors?"

"Well, people get lost in the jungle all the time," shrugged the Professor, "and after all, who are we to stay in the way of true love?" He gestured behind him. "Just make sure that this chap gets the proper treatment when he gets back."

The Captain looked, and got the hint with a nod. "I see. Well, don't worry, Professor, the only place pirates and their co-conspirators go is gaol. And especially those that try and stage a mutiny on _my_ ship!"

A few minutes later, the Captain was rowing back to the steamship, a still-unconscious hunter lying at his feet. As the morning sun shone over the beach, he couldn't help but smile when he watched the now-much-larger family disappear back into the jungle, a particular couple now locking lips on the back of one of the elephants.

It did not matter which world they came from; they were all one family.

The Captain wished them all the best as he prepared for a long journey back to England, now with some unexpected cargo he was all too willing to drop off.

* * *

Hey! I'm back! Exams are done, and this should hopefully go much quicker now! Emphasis on _hopefully_…

Once again, I hope this chapter passes muster. This was a lot harder to write than I thought! I might go through it again a few times if I feel it needs perking up. Still, six days from start to finish isn't too shabby…

Skirtzzz, thank you so much for waiting again! Once again, I'm so sorry I took so long, but I'm glad the term's over and I can get back to this project.

Find Jane's gun mage costume, created by the talented DeviantArtist Skirtzzz here (scrap all the spaces)!:  
**skirtzzz . deviantart dotcom / Gun - Mage - Jane - 293885405**

Fave, Review and Critique please; I'd really like to know someone's reading this! But please, no flaming!

**Next Chapter: Guardians and Greatswords**


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